I Must Be Insane
by anime fearie
Summary: My version of how Reno came to be aTurk.Most tend to peg Reno as the poor little slum boy that managed to impress Shinra or Tseng enough to be let into the Turks.He is in fact one of the Turk's worst enemies and one of the trickiest villans to catch.
1. Default Chapter

I Must Be Insane.

By AF 

**WARNING: **THIS FIC CONTAINS AF'S WRITING. IF THAT KIND OF THING FREAKS YOU OUT I SUGGEST YOU TURN BACK NOW TO AVOID THE INSANITY. THIS FIC ALSO CONTAINS A FAIR AMOUNT OF SWEARING AS WELL AS A NOMINAL AMOUNT OF SEEDY SLUM LIKE THINGS. IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED YOU PROBABLY SHOULD BE READING SOMETHING ELSE. 

**DISCLAIMER: **I DON'T OWN ANYTHING OTHER THAN A COMPUTER, A SMALL COLLECTION OF BOOKS AND A VERY WORN AND BATTERED PLAYSTATION. CHARACTERS ARE STOLEN FROM SQUARESOFT WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION AND ARE BEING HELD CAPTIVE AGAINST THEIR WILL.

**RATING: **R FOR VIOLENCE AND SWEARING. NOTHING MAJOR. 'CAUSE YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU ARE UNDERAGED KNOWING THAT THE FIC IS RATED R WILL IMMEDIATELY MAKE YOU STOP AND NOT CONTINUE READING WON'T IT?

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **_WELL ISN'T THIS A SUBJECT THAT I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO LEAVE ALONE.  THE TRUTH IS THAT I LIKE GIVING MY CHARACTERS BACK STORIES, GIVES THEM MORE INDEPTH PERSONALITIES FOR ME TO RIP APART. WHO KNOWS, I MIGHT DO THIS FOR A FEW OTHER CHARACTERS AS WELL. BUT WHAT CAN I SAY, RENO IS AN INTERESTING CHARACTER AND CAN BE EXTREMELY FUN TO WRITE ABOUT. THIS FIC CAN BE INCLUDED AS A PREQUEL TO JUST ABOUT ANY OF MY OTHER FICS IF SO DESIRED BY THE READER, BUT IT IS ALSO AN ADEQUATE STAND-ALONE AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE.  THIS STORY WILL TELL THE TALE OF HOW RENO FIRST BECAME A TURK. GEE NOT VERY ORIGINAL IDEA FOR A STORY, BUT I HOPE THE WAY IT IS TOLD IS A LITTLE MORE ORIGINAL. MOST TEND TO PEG RENO AS THE POOR LITTLE SLUM BOY THAT MANAGED TO IMPRESS SHINRA OR  TSENG ENOUGH TO BE LET INTO THE TURKS.  MINE IS NOT SO DIFFERENT. BUT HE IS ANYTHING BUT THE POOR LITTLE SLUM BOY. HE IS IN FACT ONE OF THE TURK'S WORST ENEMIES AND ONE OF THE TRICKIEST VILLANS TO CATCH. DIFFERENT ENOUGH? I HOPE IT IS INTERESTING ENOUGH. _

            Reno wiped the rain off his face irritably and tried to flatten his body further up against the building behind him in the hopes of getting his head at least out of the pouring rain.  He wasn't used to having to deal with rain and he found the weather annoying and a pain to see through.  He knew that the men that pursued him were not far behind him, but because of the rain, he could neither see nor hear anything that might give their whereabouts away.  Reno found himself actually wishing he were back in the slums, under the cover of the plates. Where the rain wouldn't be bothering him and he knew the streets better.  Up on the plates he was more blind to his surroundings than the men that chased him.  A definite down side.  He was a long way from home and nowhere nearby anything he knew as a safe house.  What was worse was this irritating feeling that the terrorists weren't the only ones who tracked him tonight.  At least he had been able to deliver the message before all this had started up.  No doubt his troubles would have doubled if he had led his pursuers straight to his boss' contact. 

            A loud booted footstep close to his position made Reno suck in his breath and hold it unconsciously, flattening himself further against the side of the building.  He could hear the footsteps clearly now, closing on his position.  He didn't dare move though.  He had been safely hiding in this spot for twenty minutes or so, the odds that they had seen him in that time was very small.  More than likely, whoever it was, was simply walking along the path.  The person would have to look directly in Reno's direction to see the man huddled snugly in the shadows of the building.  He tensed his body anyway, ready for any eventuality. 

            As he had suspected, the person passed by the lip of the alleyway only taking a quick look down before moving on down the street.  He hadn't seen Reno, but Reno had been able to get a good look at him.  Harold.  One of Whitley's muscle men.  Whitley was the head of one of the biggest terrorist groups in Midgar these days.  And one of Reno's own boss' biggest enemies.  Reno's boss was a man by the name of Rankin. Rankin's group wasn't in all actuality much better than those they opposed.  Not a terrorist group in the truest sense, but definitely fit snugly in the realms of rebel group.  And Rankin wasn't the only one of his kind either.  But then again, neither was Whitley.  The terrorist groups like Whitley's were primarily against the Shinra.  They opposed being oppressed by the Shinra for many differing reasons.  Some were against the lengthening division between the classes. The rich on the plates and the poor in the slums.  Some were against the control this company had over the general populous of Midgar.  Some even argued environmental reasoning.  Most were revenge fanatics or those paid to be just that.  The rebel groups were against all forms of terrorism.  Whether it be the terrorists themselves or the big companies of Midgar spreading their own forms of terror.  All were dangerous to the population and therefore usually resulted in more deaths than if Shinra or another had been left alone to do their own thing.  These groups usually consisted of people who had been wronged by both sides. Most had suffered deaths in their families due to the fighting between the two groups. Well the leaders of these groups at any rate.  The actual bulk of the men working for the various rebel groups were there to be paid.  Almost anyone in the slums can be convinced of a cause so long as that cause paid well and kept them out of the streets. Most of the time they were just rats.  They would sniff out big goings on then promptly tell the right people before the plans could be carried out.  Sometimes such information went (anonymously of course) to the terrorist groups.  And others such as this time, when it was the terrorists turn to be stopped, information was taken to the Midgar authorities.  

            Since most of the work involved spying then ratting out various different parties, Reno had found himself quite a lucrative position.  A job for once he had actually excelled at.  It was a dangerous job sure. But since a lot of people paid good money for certain types of information, the group was always well funded and Reno hadn't found himself going hungry in quite some time.

            How different had that been from a few years ago when he had been kicked out of his home and onto the streets.  His mother (well he had assumed it had been his mother) had kicked him out because her new man didn't want to hassle of having extra mouths to feed.  In those days Reno had been a rather good thief. Around sector three he had stolen just about anything of worth he had laid his eyes on.  Stupidly he had given just about every gil he made to his mother hoping that one day she might actually buy herself a life that didn't involve drugs or the fantasy that maybe one of the creeps she bought home constantly might turn out to be her white knight. A man who would save her from her wretched life and shower her in love and riches.

            She had obviously thought that the last slime ball was one such man.  Since then, Reno had vowed never to be that stupid again.  People didn't change because you wished them too, no matter what you did for them.  Still, former occupations had turned out to be good practice when it came to sneaking around where you didn't belong without attracting attention.  Skills he had learnt of older boys he could now use in his new trade as a rebel group messenger.   Only this time, every gil he earnt went straight into a carefully hidden jar.   The jar held his life savings.  He wasn't so fooled as many of the guys he knew that thought if they saved up enough they might buy themselves a one way trip topside.  Reno knew that things just didn't work that way. Instead, the eternal pessimist that he was, saved up his money for that sure day in the future when he might again find himself called worthless and tossed out onto the street.  He had vowed after the first time that had happened that he would never live like that again, and that this time he would be prepared.  

            That was how nineteen year old Reno found himself to be standing out in the middle of a rain storm in a part of the city he was unfamiliar with and being chased by two different groups that would enjoy nothing more that catching him and trying to wring every last secret out of him.  And quite possibly trying to accomplish this in the most painful way possible.  

            Still, as with every god awful job presented to people of limited choices.  Reno had begun to find ways to amuse himself.  It somehow made the job easier to handle and less desperate.  If it made him one of the more known and hated among Rankin's messenger's…well…so be it.  Reno had never objected to the idea of being famous.

            He had picked up his terrorist followers again after ditching them earlier by the train tunnels.  They had followed him as far as the plate before Reno had managed to shake their tail.  Tricky too. It was that group that be had been sent to rat on to Midgar's police.  Unfortunately a messenger as well known as him almost constantly had a tail. But because he had been seen going up onto the plates, he had now five or six of the bastards to worry about rather than the usual one or two.  To make matters worse, he had managed to attract the attention of an off duty Turk.  Just his luck to have literally run into the bastard on his way back to the train tunnels. It would definitely teach him to watch where he was going from now on rather than being too engrossed in who might be following him. All it would take would be a quick five-second phone call and he would suddenly find most of the Shinra Turks on his tail as well.  

            Well, Reno tried to never let a situation get to him anymore and had immediately (once he had outdistanced the Turk) started thinking up new ways to turn the shitty situation in his favor.  Picking his favorite idea, and obviously most dangerous and amusing, he headed to the area where he had last seen his terrorist friends.  Finding them were he expected them to be he had led them on a merry chase through the city, finally leading them to a more quiet neighbourhood where he thought the terrorists might assume to have him cornered in.  

            Such a thing might even be true had the terrorists not known how adept this messenger was at sneaking through dark shadows and climbing onto roofs. 

            Letting out the breath he hadn't been aware of holding,  Reno stepped away from the wall of the building and crept further back into the alley.  He found a huge dumpster, as was usual in the alleys of the business districts, and boosted himself up onto it.  From there it was an easy jump to the fire escape that would lead him up onto the top of the building.  He made the jump virtually soundlessly, quickly pulling himself up.  

            As much as he enjoyed leading the terrorists around by their noses, he had something more important to attend to.  He had some Turks to find.

            They were just where he expected to find them.  Predictable as ever. After Reno had lost the first Turk earlier, he had called in the cavalry and were, at present, staking out the train station.  As if Reno would ever have certified I.D. that would allow him to pass through the security sensors anyway. Reno wasn't surprised. Their leader was an absolute joke of a man named Hawkly that Reno had had the misfortune of meeting face to face last year.  A good fighter no doubt, but his thinking abilities left a lot to be desired.  

He had Reno cornered in a bare alleyway and had refused to call for backup thinking nothing of Reno's own abilities to defend himself and being too sure of himself to care.  He had holstered his weapon swaggered up to Reno, probably thinking the poor slum boy would cower in fear in the presence of the mighty leader of the Turks.  Actually he had managed to beat Reno for quite some time never once questioning why his opponent hadn't once tried to fight back.  Sure that he had beaten him into submission, he had gone to cuff him when Reno had struck.  Reno had never been an advocate of fair fighting, especially when your opponent was armed and you were not, and had received worse beatings walking down the street in sector six for some milk that what Hawkly had dished out.  While the Turk was crouched next to him, Reno had neatly elbowed him in the groin before slamming his fist into the man's face.  Hawkly had passed out, and Reno had limped home, message delivered and paycheck waiting.  Being in his mid-forties, Reno just assumed that the man had received his rank from age rather than skill.  

There were five Turks and probably only two real brains amongst the lot of them.  It was one of these brains in particular  that Reno had the biggest problems with.  While forced to follow his leader, this man, Reno could tell, knew more than the elder Turk and certainly whenever Reno was simply playing with the group for his own amusement.  In a group, forced to follow orders, this man was no problem.  On his own, he was a force to be reckoned with.  He personally had almost caught six of Reno's fellow messengers and Reno himself more than twice.  Quick thinking, skillful and lethal.  Tseng was his name.  However, because he knew what was happening before his boss, playing with Tseng was so much more fun than without.  Tseng knew, but could do nothing about it.  It amused Reno to no end to see the wonders of a Shinra hierarchy at its best.   

Seeing the Turks spread out and around the train station, Reno now had the easy job of trying to attract their attention.  To accomplish this, he decided the steal one of their sidearms. 

Scanning the choices he was left with few options.  All the Turks were competent fighters, something he would never forget, but not all were as great as they pretended to be.  Not wanting to get caught before he had started, Reno picked out the most likely target amongst the group.  Funnily enough it turned out to be Hawkly. He was standing with his back up against a brick wall of a building opposite the train station. He was the only one standing on his own without a partner.  Tseng and his partner Dallen were over by the departure gates, and nowhere Reno wanted to be going real soon.  Gafford and Arkette were by the ticket booth and of no interest. All five decked out in their patented navy blue suits.  In other words they were sticking out like a pair of green chocobos eating grass on the Midgar Number 1 during rush hour.  People walked around them as if they carried diseases and kept their eyes lowered when they did so.  

It made Reno stop and pause for a moment.  He wondered why he had ever gotten himself as a known face to one of the most feared group of enforcers in Midgar.  He guessed it was because he had the dubious luck to be the most known spy and messenger in one of the largest rebel groups in Midgar.  It seemed as though an unofficial part of Turk business was dealing with various Shinra opposers.  Still Reno felt an odd sort of pride that he alone had been the cause to bring all Turks out into the middle of a rainstorm in the late hours of the night.  He smiled slightly at this and silently determined that after tonight, he may even manage to get a few Soldiers out after his blood as well.  After all, Hawkly seemed to harbor an intense hate for Reno after knocking out a few of his teeth. A few troopers weren't too much for Hawkly to ask for in the name of revenge for a bruised pride now was it? Well, certainly not for the egotistical leader of the Turks anyway.

Reno had lifted a hooded coat from a man sitting under an undercover bus shelter on the way over.  Now he slipped the coat on and pulled the hood well over his face.  After all, it was pouring, and wouldn't be odd in the least to see a man wandering through the streets with a hood over his head.  Nothing that was likely to let him walk passed the watchful eyes of the assembled Turks for any great length of time.  But for what he had planned, it would serve good enough.  

He brazenly walked out into the well lit area surrounding the train station and headed toward the leader of the Turks, sheltering himself under the overhang of the building across the street.  He kept well out of Hawkly's line of sight, but not so much to draw unwanted attention to himself. His silent footfalls, muffled by the heavy rain kept his approach secret. In fact the feeling of a slight touch at his side was the only warning Hawkly had before Reno stepped around the Turk and straight in front of him from the side.  Hawkly peered at the hooded person in front of him in confusion for as much time as it took for Reno to raise his head and stare at him with a pair of sparkling blue eyes.  

Hawkly took a few moments to gape open-mouthed at Reno's audacity before his hand went for the gun in his side holster.  The gun, of course, was no longer there.  Reno dangled the weapon in the man's face.

"Got yer gun." 

He grinned as Hawkly's eyes widened slightly, then took off with all speed, across the road and down an alleyway to the right.  

He kept his pace light and easy, not wanting to lose the perusing Turks, but not wanting to fall into the range of their guns.  They were undoubtedly following him. He could hear Hawkly's angry shouts almost the second he had turned and ran. Now all he had to do was get back to sector one and where he had left his buddies, the terrorists, looking for him.  He hadn't been gone long and hoped they hadn't given up the search.

Taking the gun had solved two of his problems.  For one thing, Reno didn't have a weapon like a gun.  Rarely did Rankin allow them to carry one for one thing. And for another, they were more expensive than Reno would have imagined.  He had needed a way to get Hawkly's attention and to give chase. Taking his gun had been insulting him to the extreme.  He had also needed something capable of a lot of noise.  And the only thing Reno ever carried on himself was a knife concealed down the top of his boot for emergencies. 

Nearing his destination, he began to feel his body start to tire. But Reno pushed himself on. Pouring on the speed, he pulled away from his pursuers, adrenaline and fear natural when being chased by almost half a dozen armed professionals. Always good incentive.  

He broke out into a courtyard surrounded by restaurants and classy boutiques. A fountain dominated the area, over flowing from the heavy rainfall. Reno ran past all this, as fast as his legs could carry him.  He ran straight into the street on the other side, leading directly off from the courtyard.  He was running so fast that he had to practically skid to a stop in front of a big burly man toting an impressive looking semi-auto.  The gun was out and at the ready, but he looked so surprised to see Reno run around the corner that he had little or no time to bring it to bear before Reno had done a one-eighty and started off sprinting back the way he had come.

Reno pelted back into the courtyard.  Still there was no sign of the Turks. He hadn't realized how much distance he had gained.  It probably had a lot to do with Hawkly.  He wasn't much of a sprinter and arrogance would make him want to be physically leading the rest of the Turks in the chase.  

To make doubly sure that both groups knew where he was. He fired three shots in the air.  Satisfied that his plan was working, he ran over to the storefront of a restaurant that had graciously left a number of tables out over one side of the courtyard.  Still running when he reached it, he leapt onto a table closest to the actual store and using his momentum flung himself at the overhang of the roof of the store.  It was quite a jump and he almost dislocated both of his shoulders grabbing onto the overhand, but he managed it. Hanging there for no longer than a few seconds he pulled himself up onto the roof where he promptly collapsed, finally out of breath.

It was mere seconds later when he heard the outraged shouts and answering gunfire.  Reno managed to lift himself up enough to look out over the courtyard.  On one side of the area, the terrorists were taking cover, locked in a vicious gunfight with five Turks taking cover themselves on the opposite side, the side closest to Reno.  

Reno smiled idiotically at the spectacle. 

_All this over little me. Gee,  I guess this is why they hate me so much._

Keeping low, Reno began to edge away from to side of the roof.  Before he got too far his eyes caught sight of a lone person staring in his direction.  One of the Turks was taking cover by the side of the fountain.  The water in front of him erupting in tiny waves as bullets hit the surface.  The Turk paid it no heed, he was too engrossed in Reno edging away from the fight.  Reno strained his eyes to see who exactly it was.  When he realized, his smile only grew bigger.  

It was Tseng.

The look wasn't telling Reno that he was going to kill him or anything similar.  In fact he seemed a tad impressed.

Reno offered a casual salute to the Turk before resuming his escape. Maybe this time he had even surprised Tseng.

_Hmmm, _Reno thought as he lowered himself over the back of the building  and onto yet another handily placed fire escape, _definitely time Hawkly called in the troops._

_****************_

            Reno waltzed out of the weapons shop, quickly stuffing the two hundred gil he had received after selling off Hawkly's gun into his pocket before greedy eyes could take note.  And there were enough around these days in sector six.  Unfortunately he hadn't been quick enough.  A woman standing over by the bar saw him and immediately smiled.  It wasn't a warm smile. It was a calculating smile really.  He tried to pay no attention to her as he walked passed but she stepped in front of him before he got too far and pulled him to a stop beside her.

            Hand on one of his arms, the other casually circling his waist she leaned in close to him and widened her smile.

            "Reno." She practically purred. "I see you've been in some luck lately.  How bout treating a gal to a good time eh?"

            Reno forced a thin-lipped smile onto his face and tried not to inhale the toxic perfume that assailed his nostrils.

            "Not today Rita. Have to report in, you know the drill. 'Sides I think my bunkmate is getting a little pissed at me as it is."

            "Awww, Tarran won't mind. If he's as well off as you at the mo' I might even make special allowances ya know."

            Reno winced at the thought.  "You really should stop acting like I'd be doing you a favor by taking you home with me Rita. Especially when I know what shit you usually have yourself in.  What is it this time? More of Mac's gambling debts or something of your own?"

            Rita didn't seem surprised by Reno's insightfulness a merely shrugged her thin shoulders. "Bit of everything. Mac was fired a week ago."

            Reno had expected as much.  Rita wasn't often out on the streets like this and was usually only a last resort in desperate need of a quick money fix.

            Sighing he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a large note, quickly handing it over to Rita.

            "I wont take no handouts." Rita stated proudly.  "I'll work for any money I get."

            Reno raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Laying there like a dead fish while some guy grunts over you isn't work Rita.  Most work requires effort." He saw the look she was giving him and quickly added, "Besides I ain't giving this to you for free. Go over to the dorms and find Tarran.  I owe him a favor, go show him a good time.  Just be done before I get back."

            With the littlest offering she snatched the money off him and tucked it down inside her blouse.  "A true pal Reno. But I can't shake the feelin' that you're just handin' me off 'cause I don't interest you.  Her arm around his waist tightened and she moved in closer. "I did once."

            "You interested me once Rita because you had breasts and you were cheaper than the honeybee." Reno answered pointedly, untangling Rita's arms from around him and moving away.

            "Liar!" Rita called after him playfully.  "I know you want me!"

            Still walking away from her he showed her his middle finger.

*******

            The building that housed the bulk of Rankin's group was a rather large brick building set into the sector four slums.  Rankin, previous to becoming the leader to the rebel group had been a moderately wealthy businessman that had lived in Upper Six.  After the death of his wife in a terrorist bombing of a Shinra warehouse close to where his wife had owned a clothing shop, he had promptly sold off his business and moved down the slums intent on revenge to any group in Midgar that caused death and destruction.  Basically honorable, passionate and deserving of respect, the only thing that had drawn Reno to him had been the thought of a steady paycheck.  While he liked to think that working for Rankin was better than most of the other jobs he could have ended up with in the slums.  He never deluded himself into thinking that he was playing on the side of good and right.  Though Reno didn't think there was such a side as right and good in Midgar.  Just bad, moderately unsavory and downright evil. It was good enough that Rankin was within the moderately unsavory category.  Still, as long as he was getting paid, Reno might've found that even his loose morals were looser than he had first thought and taken a job with the downright evil.  One never did know.  Rankin was the first to offer, and so Rankin had gotten him.

            The building that Rankin had bought with the money made from selling his business housed his headquarters as well as a couple of floors of dorm rooms that supplied bedding for those of his men without families for a small percentage of their pay.  That worked out fine with Reno.  Sure he had to share his small cramped room with another person, but it worked out to be much cheaper living than trying to get his own place somewhere.  

            This was the first time he had seen the building since yesterday afternoon when he had been sent on that errand up to the plates.  It had been early morning when he had finally cleared the tunnels and made his way back down into the slums.  He had also wanted to get rid of the gun before he went back.  Rankin only allowed guns in extreme circumstances and being caught with one wasn't worth the hassle.  Not when he could go and sell the gun for some extra cash anyhow. 

            He walked past the two sentries at the main doors and headed toward the stairwell.  Rankin's office/living quarters were on the topmost floor of the four story building.  His own room was on the second, but he didn't bother heading there first.  Sure he smelt like the oily rail tunnels along with a combination of rain soaked clothes and Midgar pollutants, but he doubted Rankin would care much.  It was rules that whenever a person returned from a job they had to check in personally with him within two hours of getting back into the sector.  Well Reno hadn't been back in Sector four for two hours, but he had returned from the plates some three hours ago. Rankin was especially careful when sending messengers up onto the plates and would have been waiting for Reno's return since the early hours.  

            Reaching the top floor Reno followed the straight corridor down the end where it met with a rather unremarkable door.  Without pausing to knock or otherwise announce his presence, Reno opened the door and waltzed into the makeshift office, taking a seat before the beat up metal desk that his boss sat behind.

            Rankin had been reading something off a loose piece of paper when Reno had walked in, but had put it aside to greet his guest with a solemn nod.

            "Glad to see you made it back.  As well as surprised.  Sounds like you had yourself a bit of fun last night." 

            Reno grimaced and shifted his position uncomfortably.  "That was fast."

            "Indeed it was.  My contact in Shinra heard early this morning what had happened.  When I heard that you had both the Turks as well as Whitley's men after you I thought you'd be as good as dead." Rankin took a deep breath and rubbed his gritty eyes with his fingertips.  This caused Reno a little more apprehension.  It seemed as though Rankin had been up most of the night because of this.  "As it turns out I'm not sure I'm glad that you aren't.  I've put up with these little games of yours for years Reno.  Sometimes I find them even more amusing that you apparently do.  But this can't be overlooked. You've fucked up royally this time.  I don't care about Whitley's men.  There was perhaps no way for him to know it was you that lead his men into a trap.  The Turks of course killed all of them.  But I really don't enjoy the idea of having a pissed off Shinra Turk watching our every move."

            Reno stopped being worried and grinned.  "C'mon, I did those bozos a favor by leading them toward a group of terrorists.  There were what? Six of Whitley's men?  I doubt that shit for brains leader Hawkly could have found such a prime catch on his own.  At the moment they're probably enjoying big cash bonus' and sipping champagne on their terraces."

            "I'm sure they are." Rankin grumbled, "That is, what's left of them will be."

            Reno blinked at his boss in surprise, the earlier grin slipping off his face.  "What?"

            "Your stunt last night resulted in the death of two Turks.  /Two/ /Turks/ Reno.  And because they were able to make a positive I.D. on you, they think that I am responsible for it."

            "Chocoboshit. Hawkly is just trying to scare you.  He knows that whatever I did, I did on my own.  Any of those clowns would."

            "Yeah well, Hawkly was one of those among the dead. Him and Gafford."

            Reno leaned back in his chair and scratched his head thoughtfully for a moment.  "Hawkly's dead?"  Then a sly smile crept onto his face.  "When's the party?"

            Rankin scowled at Reno and shook his head.  "Hawkly may have been an asshole, but he served his purpose."

            "Oh c'mon, he was an incompetent prick that spent so much time with his head stuck up his ass he wouldn't have seen…." Reno trailed off.

            "Exactly." Rankin finished.  "Because as far as Turks went he /was/ an incompetent prick.  Now we may find our business in a lot of peril.  Hawkly couldn't find his nose on his face. Whoever takes over from him might be just pissed at us enough after last night, and competent enough, to make our lives a living hell."

            "Whose in the running?" Reno asked a little more subdued.  

            "Arkette and Tseng.  Both aren't great choices.  Arkette is a sadistic bastard with an evil mind. Tseng, well, is more than competent enough to snag each and every messenger we send up onto the plates personally. You've put me in a very uncomfortable situation Reno.  Knowing you, you probably could have shaken both groups and high-tailed it back to base.  But you just had to have your fun didn't you."

            "If it's any consolation; it was.  Fun that is."

            Rankin almost let a half smile slip.  "I can imagine." He covered it up quickly though. "I suggest that if you want to keep your job, you kiss my ass severely this time Reno.  And to do this I want you to complete a special job for me.  A job that I will not waste another life on.  A job that you aren't going to like one bit."

            Reno quickly did a mental calculation in his head on the amount of money he had saved up so far.  Finally deeming it not enough to live on for any great length of time he simply nodded and sat up straighter in his chair.  

            "What do you want me to do?"

***

_            Notes: Famous last words from Monsters if I remember correctly.  Anyway, I wasn't too happy with this one.  I may write a better one at a later date but hopefully this may serve to amuse at least a little._

_            Hehe isn't Reno just the little bastard.  And Turk killer extraordinaire. Go you little bastard you!_

_            Be one with the fic_

_            AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found at Neo Midgar on the 70th Floor_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget the mailing list!!!_


	2. Welcome Back

I Must Be Insane

_By AF_

Chapter 2

Welcome Back.

****

            Reno unlocked the door to his room just as he did every afternoon.  His mind was running rampant with a thousand different thoughts at once.  The two loudest ones were telling him to run.  To pack up his meager belongings and to high-tail it to another sector.  It seemed a sure better solution than the one Rankin had dealt up to him.

            When his boss had mentioned a 'special' job, he had been almost prepared to do anything.  To keep his job and stay under a roof, he had been prepared to accept a job to track down his own mother and blow her away if Rankin had but asked.  Anything was better than a life out on the streets.  He'd been there and done that and he didn't want to have to exist like that ever again.  He had taken work to do just about anything in order to eat and not have to be yet another young teenager sleeping on the streets and the mercy of anyone older and stronger that passed by.  There were of course certain things that Reno would not do.  But they were few and far between.

            So into his thoughts when he crossed the room, head bowed, and laid down on his bed that he didn't even notice the presence of his roommate.  Or his current companion.

            Not that it really bothered either of them immensely. They had been sharing a room for years now, there was little that the other had not had to put up with over that time.  Reno's only comment was; "I thought I told you to be done before I got back."

            Rita only grunted in response.

            Tarran didn't say anything at all.  At least nothing Reno assumed that was directed at him.

            "C'mon Tarran." Reno said staring at the ceiling, an irritated look on his face.  "Put some muscle into it. I wanna talk to you 'bout something. And I need for you to be able to reply more than 'Oh' 'Ah' and 'Yes'."

            Reno was sure his friend wouldn't be listening to him, but by the sounds of it he did seem to put a little more effort into it.  Soon enough they were done. Tarran got off Rita and went over to the basin in to corner of their room to wash himself off.

"Thanks for the present by the way. We would've been done 'fore you got back. But I found out how much you gave her and I just couldn't let good money go to waste."

            "That better be your towel." Reno told him.

            Tarran wrapped a thin blue towel around his waist and lent with his back to the basin.  "We only have one towel Reno." Tarran reminded him. "Something wrong? You're being more irritating than usual."

            Tarran was an interesting case.  All 6ft, honey haired, brown-eyed, muscled, lot of him.  If Rankin had any muscle men, Tarran was one of them.  Rankin had something more akin to a brute squad.  While Tarran went on jobs around the slums same as Reno, he was mostly around for intimidation.  And if there were no time to rat on a group, he sent a group of his muscle men to stop it instead.  Nothing like all out violence.  More sneaky and underhanded. Sabotage mostly.  Reno found that he wasn't too bad at it himself, but he was rarely asked to go.  Rankin seemed to think him too young yet. Sometimes it did turn into all out violence. 

            Tarran himself was a product of a Shinra executive and a honey bee girl.  He had stayed at the honey bee with his mother, running errands for the girls till he had gotten too small to hide from the owner anymore and was thrown out on his ass. His mother had stayed.  And Tarran had never thought any less of her for it.  Better that than her working on the streets, he'd told Reno.  Young Tarran had then turned to stealing food to eat.  It hadn't lasted long though. Not that anyone had been able to catch him.  Tarran hadn't been a good thief, but he could sure run like the wind.  A terrorist group had picked him up on this and offered him a job.  Tarran wasn't a stupid person.  He knew they wanted him to run messages for them. 

            Back when he had lived at the honeybee it had been a prime target for terrorist threats.  Shinra men frequented it constantly and it was conveniently in the slums, easier to get to than any offices topside.  His mother's welfare on his conscience, Tarran had accepted the job.  Once he had received the message, he had taken it straight to Rankin.  With no want for a job, he had given the message to the rebel group's leader with little thought that his life may now be over.  Rankin had hired him on the spot.

            "You hear about last night?" Reno asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

            "Who here hasn't.  Most of us don't know whether to throw you a party or throttle you." Tarran paused to light a cigarette pilfered from Reno's pack laying by the sink. "Actually, I think it's in favor of throttling you.  You better watch out, Dart is after your blood. He almost ran into Whitley's men you dumped in Upper One last night."

            "Thanks for the warning. Rankin wants me to make it up to him." Reno motioned for Tarran to throw him a smoke and lit up. "Rankin wants me to make nice with the Turks. Go and give them something that might appease their new leader and temper their wrath."

            "In other words he's sending you to your death." Tarran finished. "Nasty. You going to run?"

            "The thought had most definitely crossed my mind."

            Tarran shrugged. "So maybe they wont kill you.  You just have to pick who to do business with. Which one of those pricks will be more interested in listening than shooting."

            "They're Turks Tarran. Not priests. They're paid to shoot first and ask no questions."

            "When you going?"

            "Tonight." Reno answered. "You know you could show a little more emotion. I may be walking to my death here man."

            Tarran smiled and regarded his friend intently for a while.  "Yeah well, I know better don't I. Rankin is sending you sure 'cause you're the one that fucked up.  But he's also probably sending you 'cause you're the most unlikely to end up with a bullet in your skull.  I know cockroaches who are easier to nail a bullet in than you. Hell," Tarran went on making gestures in the air with the cigarette, "Even if one did manage to shoot you I bet he wouldn't kill you.  Midgar has seen more of your blood than it has hookers. And /that/ is saying something."

            "Hey!" Came and indignant voice from Tarran's bunk.

            "Oh please." Tarran replied, "It's the truth."

            Reno was thoughtful.  "Pick who I talk to right?"

            "A level headed one, if one's to be found.  You may get lucky and not die. You never know." Tarran responded optimistically.

            Reno fell back onto his back and stared at the ceiling again.  "Gee thanks."

***

            Food from the kitchens was bought into the mess at five precisely every night.  You could set your watch to it.  Even more interesting was how you could assume the productivity of the week by the smell and look of the food. Moldy bread meant that business was bad and accounts needed to be settled. Actual food with meat meant that they'd had a most profitable week.  Tonight as Reno looked down upon his bowl filled with yellow broth and three lone egg noodles, he guessed that times were tough, but not terrible. It was better than nothing. That happened quite frequently on their really off weeks.

            It didn't really matter what the food tasted like.  He had only been sitting at the table across from Tarran for five seconds when he found himself wearing his dinner, the bowl upended on his head.

            Tarran went to stand, but three men went to stand directly behind Tarran and warned him off making a scene.

            With a heavy sigh to show that the prank had not been totally unexpected, Reno wiped the broth from his eyes with his sleeve and craned his neck slightly to get a quick look at the man standing behind him.

            "Bored Dart?" Reno asked casually.

            Dart scowled at Reno's lack of response and placed a meaty palm on Reno's shoulder, the fingers digging quite painfully into Reno's skin.

            Dart was a big guy.  Where Tarran was muscled and solid, Dart was monstrous and stout. Powerful in his bulk as he was ugly in looks.  Rough black stubbled lined his cheeks, oily black hair that was naturally slicked back at all times and skin the color of a man three days dead.  The smell wasn't much better either.  Reno didn't mind all this necessarily.  Most all of the guys in Rankin's employ weren't considered the height of perfection.  Oh, and of course without the malicious snarl that so often was tossed Reno's way.

            "Not bored." Dart snarled. "Pissed. Your little stunt last night almost got me killed you little puke."

            "If you want me to apologize your in for some waiting." Reno told him.

            "I don't want to you apologize." Dart answered digging his fingers more forcefully in Reno's shoulder.  He had been trying to ignore the pain, but Dart was a strong guy and it was more than enough to make Reno's wince.  "I want you to faint in a pool of your own blood after I beat it outta you. Understand?"

            He felt sure that Dart was going to snap his shoulder and forcefully elbowed Dart's arm away.

            "Blow me."

            Dart grabbed the back of Reno's collar and literally pulled him out of his chair, letting him drop onto the floor between the tables. Reno's back hit the concrete floor solidly making his breath gush out of his lungs. His legs were still dangled over the bench he had been sitting on at a most uncomfortable angle.

Undoubtedly they now had the attention of the entire room.  Every single person living in the building had to gather for dinner in this room at five. None seemed too eager to help Reno though with the possible exception of Tarran that was being restrained by two of Dart's cronies. Reno wasn't surprised. Dart commanded a lot of respect bought forth from fear. He had a big group of buddies all as solidly built as he, and was essentially unafraid of virtually anything.

            When Reno could breath again, he commented, "Well, that hurt."

            Dart snarled again and savagely kicked Reno in the ribs. Reno groaned and rolled onto his side, clutching the hurt area. As much as he hated the idea of giving Dart the satisfaction of seeing him suffering, pain was still pain. And it hurt. A lot.

            Dart reached down and pulled the groaning Reno up into a kneeling position by his hair. And promptly kneed him in the face.

            Blood pouring over a cut lip Reno fell back to the floor and fought off the desire to pass out. It wasn't easy. The pain was intense and he knew there was still more to come.

            Dart picked him up again the same as before and left the dizzy man on his knees. It also unfortunately bought another thing into Reno's field of view.  The vision swam past him, but there was no mistaking it.  He was reminded again why he hated Dart so much and had felt absolutely no remorse about last night.  Dart was the kind of guy that loved his job.  More than that, he loved to hurt people. He got off on it. Almost literally.  Reno was hardly a peace love and harmony guy himself, but guys like Dart made him sick.

            Mentally shaking his mind to clear a little of the haze, he tried to focus on what was happening and what had to be done about it.  He didn't stand a chance against Dart.  The guy was almost an army unto himself.  But Reno figured he could at least make the sick fuck feel a little biting pain. If only for an instant.

            It only took a moments thought for Reno to decide the best place to strike. He bought his fist up to land solidly in Dart's groin.  The air whooshed out of the big man's lungs and his eyes looked light they were ready to burst out of his skull.  Using the chance, Reno got to his feet and circled the stunned man, bent over. Reno bought his knee up into Dart's gut then cuffed the back of his head before he fell to the ground.  Which he did do. Dart was sprawled out in front of Reno in a boneless heap.

            "Somehow I expected that to be harder." Reno mused in a woozy voice.

            The crowd that had gathered  remained silent for a brief few seconds.  Then erupted into massive applause. Reno looked up, for a second he was surprised at the outburst. He had forgotten they'd had an audience.  A grin crept over his face, large enough to make his cut lip sting.  

            Regaining some of his composure and poise he leapt up onto the bench where he'd originally been sitting and did an elegant bow for the admiring spectators.

            The crowd cheered wildly.

            The men that were pinning Tarran let him go the moment Dart had hit the floor and rushed to their comrade's side, throwing wary looks at Reno all the way.

******

"You still goin'?" Tarran asked for perhaps the third time in as many minutes.

With an irritated gesture, Reno said, "Yes. I'm still going."

"Thought you were thinking of runnin' that's all.  It might be the better solution after all."

Reno stopped on the street and cast his eyes back toward his friend that walked a few paces behind.  He had noticed that Tarran had been in a rather odd mood ever since the incident in the mess hall. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

"What's up with you? Where did all that moral support suddenly vanish to? You know, this morning you couldn't have given two shits whether I ran off to another sector or actually took the job and risk getting my head blown off by a very pissed off Turk."

Tarran stopped and snagged Reno's shirt sleeve in order to stop his friend as well.  

"Look, I know you can handle yourself alright? But…"

"But what?" Reno asked angrily jerking his sleeve out of Tarran's grip.

"Maybe you really should go.  I mean this shit with the Turks and now Dart's gonna be after your blood when you get back. S'a lot to worry about."

Finally managing to get the truth out of him, Reno let himself calm down a bit and shrugged it off in the most casual way possible.  "Dart won't be such the big man when I get back.  The guys have seen that he ain't such the threat anymore."

"Yeah and he's got you to thank for that.  He'll kill you, you know.  I mean it don't take much to give Dart that little reason to go ahead with it.  He could tell Rankin anything and not get in shit for it either."

"Dart don't scare me. He never did." Reno bragged.  "The only thing I was ever scared of when I was around him was that body stench of his that could knock a man out from twenty feet."

Tarran allowed a small smile at his friend's joke and allowed the pair to continue walking as they had been.

"Yeah well, I jus' want you to know, that if you need backup I'm a mere call away. Just in case those bastard Turks decide to use you for target practice."

"Tarran, you don't have a PHS."

"It was the thought that counts." Tarran grinned.

They continued walking all the way to the train tunnels together, sometimes talking shit, sometimes keeping silent.  Tarran's concern for his friend seemed to have evaporated finally, which was good. Reno didn't think he could stand the sap for much longer.

When it came time to part, Reno spent a few moments fixing up his clothes while Tarran scouted the tunnel entrance.  

"How do I look?" Reno asked.

Tarran came back and gave his friend the once over.  "You look like a slum rat in relatively nice clothing."

Reno gave him his best unimpressed look. "Gee thanks."

Unfortunately these were the best and most decent clothes that Reno owned.  But even he had to admit that they looked a little shabby in comparison to the usual clothes worn on the plates.  Usually he wouldn't care whether he looked like a sweaty chocobo in a bunny outfit when going on a mission, but this was special.  He wanted to blend in and disappear if needs be.  If he went stalking around the plates in his usual get-up, the cops would pick him up within five seconds.

"You'll do. You don't have to look as shiny as the President. You just have to pass as one of them for a little while is all. Just pretend you're a business man down on his luck."

"I am a business man down on his luck. I don't have a business. I'd call that pretty unlucky."

"You better cut the jokes as well."

"They're not aliens Tarran. I'm sure they have a sense of humor."

"Not as far as I can tell." 

"Fine fine. Anything else mother?"

"Try not to get yourself shot." Tarran told him seriously.

Reno put on a fake pout and began ambling up the tunnel. "Damn. I was kinda looking forward to getting shot." He responded sarcastically.  His back was to Tarran and he had made the comment soft enough that he'd assume Tarran wouldn't hear him.

He was wrong.

"And don't be a smart ass!" Was the called reply.

*************

            Reno looked over his new surroundings with barely concealed surprise. He had to be in the home of one of the most well paid men in Midgar and, although the place was large and richly furnished, it seemed sparse all the same.  To be truthful, he hadn't known exactly what to expect.  Ornate furnishings, tapestries, paintings, huge T.V. the works.  As it was, there was a rather nice but plain black leather couch, a large bookcase filled to the max, a small but new computer on a plain black metal desk. Meticulously tidy, all black and white with the possible exception of one potted plant sitting in the corner of the dining room.  Rich and expensive sure, but not lavish and extraordinary.  Reno felt a little cheated.

            He felt no guilt about wandering around inside the home of someone else without their permission.  With his own reasoning he had more right to be here than the person that owned it. Surely no person from the plates had worked, suffered and lost as much as he?  Still, it wasn't as if he was the poor little victim from the slums either. But he sure as hell knew he fit the image closer than the man that resided here.

            Actually he had expected the man home by now.  It seemed now that the man was prone to working a little later than most.  Reno wasn't surprised in the least.  He had a pretty good knack at guessing people.  From the moment he had saw him, the only descriptive words he could come up with were, 'intelligent', 'thorough', 'talented', 'dedicated' and of course, 'anal'.  Still, this was who he picked, and there was no way to back out of it now.

            Tarran had told him to pick the most level-headed of the bunch and talk to him on his own.  Well, here he was.  And he was far past any opportunity to back out now.  Working late or not, he expected the guy home at any moment.

            Sure he was a little nervous, but that was to be expected.  The only times he'd ever faced the Turks one on one (and never as a group), he'd come out the victor sure, but and extremely sore and bloody victor at that.  

            Instead he fought to make the nervousness go away.  It wouldn't help him to be a gibbering wreck by the time the guy got home.  His only way to survive this whole ordeal would be to stay cool, calm and collected.  With that in mind he went into the guy's kitchen to check his fridge.  

From earlier jaunts onto the Plates he'd sometimes made time to stop off at a vacant apartment and rid the occupants of their beer supply.  It wasn't as if he couldn't drink in the slums.  It was more the novelty of tasting a beer that cost more than his entire weekly menu at Rankin's. 

            Reno got a nasty shock when he opened the fridge door.  It would be just like the conservative prick not to have any beer.

            "Asshole." Reno muttered in annoyance, slamming the fridge shut.  He might have even been tempted to dispense with the whole 'let's make buddies with the Turks' assignment and just blow the fucker away the moment his head popped in through the door had it not been for the half empty bottle of whiskey he found in the cupboard above the sink.

            That and the fact that he didn't carry a gun.

            He poured himself a generous amount into a crystal whiskey glass and muttered.  "Lucky save."

            Deciding to take the bottle with him, he ended up comfortably sprawled on one of the lounge chairs in the lounge room, idly flicking through a mission statement he found carelessly tossed in a locked briefcase in the bottom draw of a desk under some papers.  He'd found it on his first inspection of the apartment and had vowed to read it later after he had checked things out.  It was a report from the other night.  The night when Hawkly had died.  Reno had wanted to settle down in a comfy chair with a nice drink and relive the moments of Hawkly's demise.  He suddenly didn't care that there was no T.V.

            And this was how the owner of the apartment found him.  Reno heard the keys jangle of the other side of the door, but he didn't bother moving.  It would do him little good.  He was here to talk to the man, he didn't want to be seen running from him.

            After the initial reaction of one slightly raised eyebrow in surprise, the man set his  keys and jacket down onto the couch across from Reno with apparent calmness.  He didn't seem in the least hassled that a known criminal was sitting on his couch.  In fact he looked as though he hadn't even noticed the other man's presence until he talked apart from that one initial look. That occurred after he had gone into the kitchen and grabbed himself an identical glass to Reno's.  He held the clean glass under Reno's nose as Reno pretended to read the mission report.

            "Pour."

            Reno obeyed, not lifting his eyes from the file.  

            Tseng took a few long gulps and set the empty glass down onto the coffee table.

            "What are you doing here?"

            Reno was surprised to hear that the voice actually sounded a little weary.  

            "Dispensing with the pleasantries already Tseng? Humor the known felon would you and talk about the whether or something."

            "We're in Midgar. It doesn't exist." He said shortly.  "I'd prefer to know what you are doing here.  If this is part of some game of yours I'll have to warn you that I'm in no mood to play."

            "Sure it does. Have weather I mean.  We get rainy smog.  Light and warm smog. And freezing fucking cold smog."

            Tseng didn't look impressed.  

            Reno quit pretending to read and cast his eyes up to the Turk standing menacingly above him.

            "Fine. Rankin sent me. Peace mission to make up for my fuck up last night.  I'm to give you any information you could use and ferret out what I don't have. Happy?"

            "Oh? I'd rather thought he might have sent you up here to turn you over to us.  I would think President Shinra would see that as a better ways of making amends than having you running around working for us."

            "Woah, woah, woah." Reno interrupted standing to face his enemy.  "Nobody said anything about me working for you.  I have a job. I'll do it then leave. If you don't want to accept those terms, I'll say my merry fuck yous and take my leave."

            Tseng seemed to think this over for a while before replying with a curt; "No."

            "No? Whaddoya mean 'no'?"

            Reno never got the chance to answer.  He was unprepared for any aggressive moves.  It hadn't registered in his brain that Tseng had moved at all until he felt the stunning pain of the blow.  A few seconds of searing hurt radiated out from the side of his head before his knees buckled and he fell to the floor.  He lost consciousness even before he hit the carpet.

********

Notes: okay so I was gonna make that one longer, but I liked where it finished off.  Actually I like where this whole thing is going and I'm glad to see that other people seem to like it too.  Well, Reno sure has had an interesting day hasn't he? Naturally Tseng can't kill him, but I think there are even more interesting things in store for Reno when he wakes up don't you?

_Stayed tuned_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget the mailing list!!!_


	3. In The Hands Of The Enemy

I Must Be Insane.

_By AF_

Chapter III

In The Hands Of The Enemy

          Immense pain was one way to describe it. Severe fucking torture was yet another and by far the most accurate when describing how Reno felt upon waking up.  He couldn't understand why the hell he hurt so much. What the hell had he been doing last night? Vaguely he wondered whether Dart had gotten him and beat him into a bloody pulp as promised.  That didn't seem to fit though.  For one thing, he thought that might be something he was likely to remember. For another, if Dart had managed to lay his hands on him, he was sure more than just his head and throat would hurt.      

          Gingerly he opened one eye to get a look at his surroundings.  He was laying, apparently where someone must have haphazardly tossed him, on the floor of a small smooth walled room.  Metal actually. Grey metal. He was laying on it too. He could now feel the cold hardness beneath him. Uncomfortable. Very very uncomfortable. But he wouldn't allow himself to move. From his position he could maybe only see half of the room and not the door. For all he knew there could be five guys on the other side by the door just waiting for him to open his eyes so they could take to him with their feet and fists.  Negative thoughts surely.  But being an unshakable pessimist had kept him alive so far, he wasn't about to change his ways now. Especially in light of his lack of memory over how exactly he came to be here.

          A small part of his functioning mind told him not to question.  That no matter what had really happened, odds were that he was better off simply not knowing.  Unfortunately ignorance was something that he had never trained himself for so instead closed his eyes again without moving his body and tried to remember.

          It didn't take long, and when it did he groaned inwardly. His mind had been right. He really didn't want to know.  Tseng had knocked him unconscious.  That meant that the Turks had him.  Not just one, but most likely all.  Considering he was their enemy, the enemy in fact that had just gotten their boss KIA'ed, he figured he could just about kiss his ass goodbye and start praying that none of them wanted to prelong his death with a variety of twisted and painful ways.

          Nearest he could figure, so far they'd basically left him alone.

          _Yeah, well, they probably were waiting till you woke up so they could at least hear the screams you'd produce when they tortured your ass._

_          Fighting down his mind's taunts he made himself focus.  His head probably hurt from hitting the floor after he'd lost consciousness. His throat hurt because that was probably where Tseng had hit him.  Though he could have also been a contributor to the head ache as well. The whole attack had only lasted a few hazy seconds and Reno found it hard to recall each little detail.  Still, he at least knew what the score was now.  He had presented his case to the most levelheaded of the Turks that he could think of and Tseng hadn't gone for it. Rather he'd attacked him and bought him somewhere else. Probably for questioning. Possibly for torture. Most likely he'd been bought to the Shinra building.  _

          '_Fabulous'. He thought to himself._

          Hearing nothing in the 'cell' around him he risked rolling onto his back and opening both eyes.  Off to the side was a door. One of those nasty electronic sliding doors that didn't have conventional locks. Meaning he wasn't getting out that way, there was no way he'd be able to pick it.  On the far side wall was a bunk.  Not extremely uncomfortable looking either. In fact it looked better than his bed back at Rankin's. He wished that whoever had dumped him in here had had the decency to dump him on the cot instead.  The room was practically bare apart from that.  At least nobody had been waiting to jump him.  

          By their own accord, his eyes lifted up toward the ceiling. A small security camera was suspended from the ceiling in one of the back corners. 

          _'They'll know I'm awake now anyway.'_

_          Seeing no further use in playing possum, Reno got to his feet and staggered over to the cot to sit on it's edge while he recovered his senses.  However Tseng had hit him, he'd sure hit him hard.  He couldn't get his mind to focus!_

          He let out an audible groan, but didn't allow himself the comfort of sitting a while longer. If he did, he'd get too comfortable. He wanted to be ready when they came for him.  So he stood, stock center in the middle of his cell and stared at the door. And he remained this way for almost an hour. As time had gone on, he'd become more and more nervous.  His hands shook a little. His head still swam, and his mouth slowly went dry. Sure he dealt with serious and dangerous stuff for a living, but that didn't mean he was immune to fear. He'd also never had the unfortunate luck of being a Turk guest in the Shinra tower.  As it was, he felt he was holding up quite well considering.  But he wasn't so sure if this trend was going to continue if he had to wait much longer.  After all, why delay the inevitable. He could at least make them believe that he wasn't afraid.

          Casting his eyes around the bare room, he could find nothing that might be of help in getting anyone's attention.  He wanted to make enough noise to annoy security enough to want him removed or dealt with. After all, it worked in the police lockup, a place he unfortunately had a lot of experience with. But the only thing he really had to play with was the stainless steel cot. And that was bolted quite securely to the floor.  All that left him with was the security camera and himself. 

          Reno grinned.

          The security camera was suspended just above the cot on the ceiling. Further luck had it that the ceilings weren't all that high that Reno could not bring himself face to face with the device when standing on his bunk. So that's what he did. When he had his face right in front of the camera, he began to talk to it.  Knowing that whatever he said would be recorded in the camera's small audio receiver and beamed straight into whatever security station was watching him, he proceeded to be annoying. A weapon he was sure was almost as feared as a gun sometimes. At least coming from him it was.

          "Hullo." He began in his most charming voice.  "How are you doing this fine day in the bowels of Shinra HQ? Well, I'm assuming its Shinra HQ. My guide wasn't exactly willing to let me stay conscious for the trip here." Here Reno sighed dramatically before continuing.  "It had occurred to me that mebbe I could start telling you about a few little secret things that the Turks mightn't like me repeating. Gotta admit though that I'm not really in a position to piss them off. Also there's no reason to have such things recorded on tape so they could easily kill me off afterwards and also you for what you might've heard. Not that anything I have to say is really that important. Little things really in the grand Shinra scheme of things.  Weirdly enough I find that the biggest reason for not telling is the last one. The one where I might end up putting you in danger.  After all, I think you have enough to be sorry about.  It's gotta be boring. Your job I mean. What do you sit in front of a desk all day and stare at video surveillance? If that's the case it really sucks.  Instead I've decided to keep you company.  Bet you're all alone in that dark little room too. But it's really hard to keep a conversation going when you can't talk back."  Reno hopped down off the cot and moved more towards the center of the room.  He noted with a smug look that the camera started to track his movements.  "Instead I've decided to perform for you a little dance I like to call; 'Reno's impromptu striptease designed to make bored security workers want to barf. Or at least call wherever to get the insane lunatic out of his cell just to get him to stop.'" Reno grinned. "Catchy title huh?"

          Reno started humming and moving around fluidly to the music in his head. He was aware how stupid he must look and how much that security guard that /had/ to be watching him was probably reaching for the phone right now.  If anything every movement he made, he made over exaggerated with little furtive, promising looks back toward the camera.  It was overdone it was stupid. It was perfect. He'd barely got his shirt off when the door to his cell hummed and opened.  A blue suited trooper stood at the door with a confused look.

          "Come with me." The trooper ordered.

          Reno picked his shirt up from where he'd tossed it and winked back at the camera. "You're the best audience I've had in a while. Thankyou."

          Tossing his shirt on as he walked, Reno was led, not out of the cellblock as initially thought, but to a further back room.  The room contained a table a large mirrored section of wall (that anybody over the age of five would recognize as a viewing screen to another room) two blue plastic chairs, bright fluorescents overhead…..and three Turks. He noted immediately that Tseng was not among them.

          "We weren't exactly ready for you yet." Said  one of the Turks seated in one of the blue chairs. "But we couldn't postpone any longer after getting a couple of frantic calls from security to come fetch you. That was quite a performance."

          The three Turks were clustered on one side of the table, their backs to the mirrored wall. The one that had spoken was a solid man with thick black hair, cut short and a nasty looking smile of perfect straight white teeth.  He sat in between the two other Turks, the only one of them to be seated.  Reno recognized him as Arkette and had to groan inwardly. He'd rather have been facing torture by Dart.  The one closest to the door was a rather tall gentleman with light hair that Reno knew as Tseng's partner Dallen. While he didn't look quite as fearsome as the other two, he didn't exactly look happy either.  The last was a man with prematurely graying hair tied back with a thick ponytail and sporting a neat dark beard that looked totally out of place with the rest of his gray hair.  His eyes had this darting agitated look that was all pupils that told Reno that the guy was either drunk, on drugs or wasn't but desperately wanted to be. That was Gafford. Arkette's partner.

          The trooper forced Reno down into the chair across the table from Arkette. Reno tried to make it appear as if he had intended to sit there all along and shot the trooper a frustrated expression in response to the undue treatment. Once seated he made a show of fixing up his ruffled clothing and relaxing back into his chair.  The trooper paid him no heed and left after a gesture from Dallen.

          "Thanks." Reno replied. "It's hard to get appreciated for my art these days.  Good feedback is hard to come by."

          Arkette looked unimpressed. "You know why you are here."

          It wasn't a question, but Reno pretended it was.  "You wanted to appoint me villain of the month?"

          "Not exactly." Arkette responded without any traces of amusement.  Not that Reno had really expected to make the man laugh. He really just couldn't help what he was saying.  He knew that this was a very serious situation and there were worse things than death that these people could deal out to him. But for the life of him, he couldn't keep himself focused and serious.  He was just too nervous. Being nervous always made him say stupid things.

          "Ah I see." Reno amended. "You want to hang me from the 70th Floor by my testicles."

          Arkette nodded dully. 

          "Get in line. You're not the only one."

          "Somehow I don't find that hard to believe. Now…Mr…." Arkette tapered off apparently expecting Reno to fill his name in the appropriate place.  Reno just ignored him and pretended to clean his nails in a bored fashion.

          All pretence of calm seemed to leave the room in an instant. Arkette jumped to his feet and pounded the table with a heavy fist that made Reno jump slightly.  "We'll have none of your games you little snot! You'll tell us what we need to know!"

          In a show of stubborn bravery, Reno rolled his eyes. "Then get on with it. I want to be done by ten thirty, my soaps are on and I wanta find out what happened with Katherine and Jake."

******

          Dallen swiped a hand through his hair as he left the room. He couldn't have stayed in there much longer, even though he hadn't wanted to miss a single little bit, he was afraid he was going to lose his composure and start laughing. Not a good thing to do considering he would be laughing /with/ the prisoner not at him. 

          In and effort to calm himself he fetched a coffee from the vending machine down the hall before returning. This time though, he didn't bother going back in where the prisoner was being interrogated and instead entered the room set up next door to watch.  The viewing screen would allow him full view and audio of what was going on without him having to worry about embarrassing himself in front of Arkette.  

Opening the door, he was not surprised to find Tseng standing in front of the view screen, arms folded and a concentrated look on his face.

          "I almost wish we didn't have to interrogate him like this." Dallen began coming up beside Tseng. "I feel too much like giving the boy a hearty slap on the back rather than this incessant questioning."

          He knew Tseng could hear him, but he didn't show any outward signs of it. 

          "Look, you still did the right thing. By bringing him in I mean. If Arkette had found out you'd talked to him without attempting to capture him there would have been hell to pay. Not to mention there would no longer be any competition to whom the leadership would then go to."

          Tseng lowered his eyes and took in a weary breath. "You know I do not care about that."

          Dallen stifled a yawn and put his back to the screen, leaning against it causally. "You should. You know he's not suited to the job. He shouldn't get it just because he's been here for that little bit longer either."

          Tseng focussed back on the room beyond the screen and attempted to change the subject. "How is he holding up?"

          "The kid?" Dallen spared a glance over his shoulder. "Well, considering. I meant what I said about having to leave the room though. With what is happening to him, the kid still cracks jokes and insults Arkette at every possible moment. He's got guts. I don't know how long you've been standing here either but have you noticed the way he sometimes answers the questions?"

          Tseng nodded.

          Dallen continued, "I'm sure Arkette doesn't notice it, but the kid is getting just as much information from Arkette than Arkette is from him. He spins questions around, makes him give more detail away and then doesn't answer them properly after all. Do you think he even realizes what he's doing?"

          "I don't know." Tseng answered at length. 

"Whether he does or doesn't it's still very clever. He'll come out of that room knowing more about our affairs than we do if he continues the way he is. I should really put a stop to it, but I get the impression that he mightn't be coming out of that room at all. Do you think he realizes /that/?"

"I'm sure it is in the back of his mind at all times. Most would have broken by now knowing that."

Dallen nodded. "So he's a trooper. I wasn't entirely sure whether he was going to be killed or not. After all he doesn't know anything /that/ important really."

"He lead one of our own to his death. That's enough for Arkette. And he could know plenty. He has been a thorn in our sides since the day we first heard of him. While he isn't our greatest enemy at present, he is one of our greatest annoyances."

"He has the potential to be one of our greatest enemies in the future." Dallen added following it up with a whistle. "Imagine if this guy had started out with a terrorist group instead of Rankin? I mean shit, if he's like this unintentionally, imagine what he'd be like after proper training."

Tseng stopped staring at the screen and turned to Dallen with a surprised look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that if he were a terrorist, they might've thought to train him a little. They're doing that now days…"

"No I mean just about the training." Tseng interrupted.

Dallen's eyebrows creased and he gave Tseng an unreadable look.  "I meant that with training he could be quite something is all. I mean the tricks he's using to avoid Arkette's questioning, the games he plays with us out on the streets everything. He thinks on his feet and can form solid strategies on the run. Imagine if he had the training to back that all up."

Tseng nodded slowly.  "Waste of a life."

"We can't exactly let him go free."

"We can use him for a while though. He mentioned being sent up here to atone for Hawkly. That he was prepared to ferret out information we might find useful.  I bought him in here because I thought he was lying or we could get the more reluctant information out of him concerning Rankin as well.  He still could be and we still might. But we could make him do what he promised. See how he fares."

Dallen took a sip of his coffee and thought this over for a bit.

"I know you're not telling me everything that's on your mind Tseng. But I'm used to it. I think it's sound. And if you can get him to agree we'd end up with more useable information that we have now. Were you thinking of running him through some training first or something?"

"A little perhaps."

Dallen nodded again.  "Arkette isn't going to like this. I'd expect him to fight your decision. Neither one of you has more sway than the other right now, but that won't last for long. He isn't going to like this."

"I don't expect he will." Tseng replied calmly.

Dallen craned his neck to look at the redhead through the window and shook his head.  "He has spirit, no discipline and he sure as hell doesn't like us. You'll have your work cut out for you"

Right at this moment, the duo could see Reno being asked yet another question. The response of which was to raise his middle finger to scratch just above a deep cut in his eyebrow. A not very subtle way of giving Arkette the finger.

"Must be loosing his wits by now having to resort to non verbal insults." Dallen guessed shaking his head and pushing himself up off the wall before clapping a hand of Tseng's shoulder. "To attempt  what you're saying," Dallen shook his head again, "Tseng, you must be insane."

****

For the past few hours of so, Reno had taken the treatment with little more than a few muttered oaths and other questions.  He had tried to keep any grunts of pain and hurt to himself. Sometimes it didn't work, but most of the time it did.  As far as he could tell so far, they knew very little more about him and exactly what he did than when they began.  Unwittingly Arkette had told him quite a bit concerning the Turks and what they were after in response.  In many ways he was glad Tseng wasn't the one in charge of the interrogation. For some reason he felt pretty sure that if the other Turk were here, he wouldn't be getting anything useful. 

In response to his latest taunt, Arkette snarled and backhanded him.  It was enough to upset his already fractured sense of balance and set him backward on his chair and sprawling onto the ground.  His lip started bleeding again. Arkette crossed over to where he lay and stood above him.

Reno subtly shook his head a little to clear it. "That was uncalled for. Do you usually abuse your guests so much or am I a special case?"

Arkette kicked him in the ribs eliciting a wince of pain from Reno.

Dimly he heard the sound of the door whooshing open and a new voice in the room.  

"That's enough. You won't get any more from him today."

Arkette sounded angry in his response.  "I didn't ask you to butt in Tseng. I know my work."

_Tseng? _

Despite earlier thoughts, Reno found himself a little glad to hear the other Turk's name.  Although he couldn't work out why. Tseng was the one who'd bought him here in the first place. Still, he couldn't be worse than Arkette. Maybe that was why he was so glad.

"Yeah Tseng," Reno began from his position on the floor, "butt out. We were tryna have a conversation here."

"He is my prisoner." Tseng reminded. "I have a job for him."

"Very well." Arkette replied after a moment. He still didn't sound very happy though.  "Just make sure you have him ready for tomorrow. I want to continue.  No food or sleep. Not if he wants to play it rough."

Reno watched Arkette motion toward the other Turk in the room and the two of them left.  Tseng came over and knelt down beside Reno.

"I have a bone to pick with you." Reno told him forcing himself up onto his elbows.  Tseng didn't seem to be making any moves to help him.  "I came to you last night for a favor. I didn't have to. I could have skipped the sector and Rankin would have sent someone else." Finally Reno managed to haul himself onto his knees and sat back on his heels. "But no, you just had to be Mr. By-the-book dincha. Well, screw you. You'll get nothing outta me now. You might as well go ahead and kill me."

Tseng didn't need any time to think this over. "You will help me. If you do, you will not be killed."

Reno took one look at the serious face Tseng was pulling and promptly cracked up. "This is the worse version of good cop bad cop I've ever had to witness.  I get it, you send the big bad Turk in to ruff me up, then you come in all sweetness and 'I won't kill you' and /I'm/ suppose to go for it?"

"That is not the way of things." Tseng stood up.  "I bought you in true. But I was not involved with Arkette's questioning. The Turks are divided thanks to you and your efforts the other night."

"My heart bleeds." Reno said back sarcastically. "And you know what? If I had the chance to go back and do things over, I wouldn't. Hawkly was an asshole and he was incompetent. In fact half of the people in the…." Reno promptly shut up.  He hadn't meant to let that much slip. The problem was that after hours with Arkette, he just sorely wanted someone to bitch to. He just had to watch what he was bitching about.

"Go on." Tseng urged. "No one will hear you in here. There are no cameras in here. My partner guards the next room. You are free to talk."

"So I noticed." Reno muttered. "Go fuck yourself."

Tseng sighed and wandered back over to the door. There he stopped and looked back at Reno expectantly. "Are you hungry?"

"I'd rather a bullet than poison, but thanks for the offer."

"Fine. I will return to check on you in a couple of hours." Then Tseng left.

*

When he returned, Reno was laying lengthways across the table in the center of the room. Trained in matters of stealth, Tseng found it a relatively easy task to creep up to the table and look down on the sprawled prisoner without him so much as flinching,  He was apparently asleep, eyes closed.  Actually one eye looked as though it would be swollen closed for some time to come. Above the bloated purple eyelid, a cut ran parallel to his eyebrow. The blood from the gash had colored down one side of his face and soaked his already red hair a deeper shade of maroon. His simple dark blue dress shirt that he'd worn to Tseng's apartment was ripped slightly in a few places and discolored darkly in even more.  Little damage really compared to what he knew his fellow Turk was capable of. No doubt if it weren't for him, this boy would've been little more than a bloody pulp right now. 

He went to set the small food tray he'd bought on a clear bit of table by Reno's head. As he retracted his hand it was grabbed roughly by the thought to be unconscious prisoner. Tseng was surprised that he was still able to move that quick let alone been able to catch him unaware.

Reno cracked open his uninjured eye open a little and took in Tseng,

"Thought I told you to piss off." Reno mumbled groggily.  By the sound of his voice, it was likely that he /had/ been asleep after all.  Hardly shocking. He'd been through quite a lot.  Part of Arkette's torture agenda had been to deprive the prisoner of food and sleep. Designed to starve and upset a person's senses. But Tseng wasn't about to follow those 'requests'. For one thing, this person wasn't exactly the head of a terrorist group and therefore not high priority. The only reason they were bothering with the interrogation was for one; this boy was in a position where he handled a certain amount of useful information regarding certain groups in Midgar. For another, Arkette most probably saw it as some person revenge to attack the primary plotter involved in a fellow Turk's death. Truthfully, he'd never really seen Arkette and Hawkly as especially close before. Hawkly had actually beaten Arkette out of the leadership a few years back. Something Arkette had secretly bitched about until the man's recent death.

Interesting that he'd now be so concerned with revenge on Hawkly. Interesting, but not amazing. Arkette mightn't have liked Hawkly, but they were comrades and it was just the way things were. Family loyalty and all that,

"Actually," Tseng corrected calmly removing his wrist from Reno's grasp. "I believe you told me to go fuck myself."

"Either would make me ecstatically happy."

Tseng turned Reno's earlier overturned chair right side up and dusted off the plastic seat before settling himself in it. He looked most relaxed.

"Rather a big word for a slum rat."

Reno sat bolt upright on the table and swung his head 'round in Tseng's direction, Tseng admired the reaction. Reno's head must have taken a nasty beating but he brushed that aside.

"What did you say?"

Both of them knew full well that Reno had heard Tseng perfectly. 

"Does it bother you? Being called that?"

Reno looked at him with a confused expression, Obviously this wasn't quite the sort of questioning he was used to.  "Would it bother you if I called you a snotty up himself company man with no balls?"

Tseng smiled slightly. "Only if it happened to be true, So no, it would not bother me." He paused, "though perhaps partially." He amended.

"Which part?"

Tseng stopped smiling and cleared his throat. "I think we're getting off the point."

"You had a point?" Reno asked sourly rubbing the back of his head as if it were hurting him,

"I wanted to know whether it bothered you. Being so easily categorized by someone who doesn't even know you. Not that most could tell straight off I'm sure. Your speaking manners are quite excellent when you aren't swearing or angry. Did Rankin teach you in order to fit in better?"

Reno watched Tseng closely. "I'd rather be a slum rat than any one of you assholes up on the Plates."

"Really?" Tseng acted surprised. "I'd have thought you would prefer it up here. A chance to be someone known. I know your type. You don't care about causes. You care about money, having a laugh and making a name for yourself."

"You know nothing about me." Reno answered immediately.

"Granted." Tseng responded. He took a breath before continuing, apparently changing the subject. "I've thought about your offer. I'd like to take you up on it."

"Blow me," Reno answered pleasantly.

"A word of warning. If you refuse Arkette will most likely kill you. Do you want to die in the hands of the Shinra known as little more than a slum rat?"

That got him. Reno shut his mouth, swallowing his previous reply and scowled at Tseng. "Choices, choices. I'm half tempted to tell you to go ahead. But I get the feeling that Arkette wont just kill me straight off will he?"

"You're very perceptive Reno." Tseng stood and started for the door again. "I may even look forward to working with you."

"I didn't give you an answer." Reno reminded.

"Feel like correcting my assumption?"

Reno didn't answer, but his scowl deepened. 

"Thought not,"

Tseng left Reno alone with his thoughts. If this was going to work, he needed the boy well rested and clear headed.  He had a feeling that it was going to be difficult enough as it was without having him sleep deprived. 

Unwittingly, Dallen's earlier words forced their way back into Tseng's mind making him grimace.

_Tseng, you must be insane._

_*********_

_Notes: well, what can I say. It's a start. Did you really think that Reno's indoctrination into the Turk hood was going to be so easy? 'Course not. He's not a Turk yet after all. First he may have to see whether he can play nice with the other Turks. _

_Mwahahaha this is gonna be fun!_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget about the mailing list!!!_


	4. Be A Good Little Dog

I Must Be Insane 

_By AF_

Chapter IV

Be A Good Little Dog.

          "Please hold still."

          Reno frowned at the man but tried to keep himself still.  Nothing good would come if he pissed anyone off. Still nothing good would come if he behaved either. Despite Tseng's assurances to the contrary, Reno was sure he was going to die. Everybody died at some point in their lives, Reno had just hoped that that point for him was at least more than a week away. At least that was as long as he figured it would take him to fulfill Tseng's requests. After that he had no doubts that he would be killed. Arkette would probably take vast pleasure in being the one to do it personally. The thought was enough to make him twitch again.

          An aggravated sigh came from the man sitting before him.  "Look , kid, be still or I'll leave the wound open. See how fun it is to try and work with the pain."

          Reno frowned at the man but redoubled his efforts to do as ordered.  Across the room, leaning casually against the back wall, Tseng looked amused.

          "If he resists, you have my permission to restrain him forcefully Dallen."

          Dallen smirked at Tseng before turning back to Reno, a fierce look of concentration covering earlier amusement.  The room soon started to fill with a soft green light, originating from the orb in Dallen's palm.  The light collected around Reno before finally dissipating altogether.  After it had gone, he suddenly felt invigorated, refreshed and unhurt.  Sure he knew what a Materia orb was, but this was the first time he had felt the effects of a Cure Materia before. Reno felt his forehead for the cut he'd had there earlier and found it was healed.

          "Nice shit." He commented. 

          Dallen raised a single eyebrow at him and set the orb down on a nearby counter.  "I've cured your light wounds. At least when you work for us, you'll have no reason to do a half assed job."

          "How 'bout a totally assed job? I'm not working for the Turks. I /was/ sent here on a keep-the-peace mission till your buddy over there decided it would be a much more amusing thing to see me being beaten for a couple of hours instead. I think I've paid my debt back just from having to go through that."

          Dallen stood up from the stool he had been sitting on and gave Tseng a questioning look.  Tseng merely made a small gesture in response.  Dallen nodded.

          "Bit too much for you was it? I honestly thought you might turn out to be tougher than that kid. Guess I owe Tseng five gil."

          Reno's frown deepened as he looked the two men over closely.  He wasn't fooled by them. He knew exactly what they were trying to do.  Bait him into a show of bravado perhaps?  Make him want to show them he wasn't some weakling kid from the slums?  Well, he /did/ want them to know that he wasn't like that.  But he wasn't about to play into their hands.  If he was actually forced to go through with this job Tseng had given him, they'd soon find out the truth. Hopefully not the whole truth though. 

          "Why do you keep callin' me kid?" Reno inquired instead.

          Dallen obviously hadn't been expecting that question and it took him a little while to respond.  "You can't be much older than eighteen. To me you're a kid. Kid."

          He was actually nineteen, but he wasn't about to correct the Turk about it. Somehow that seemed a childish reaction, definitely not what he was going for.  

          "I have a name."

          "Oh? Care to share?"

          Reno thought for a moment.  "No."

          "Should we just call you 'nameless' then?"

          "You can call me 'Peaches' for all I care. Just not kid. It sounds like some sort of small animal."

          "Well, Peaches, shall we get to your training already? Or do you have some more requests?"

          "Yeah, kill that thing you seem to think is wit. It's making me nauseous." 

          Dallen looked down at Reno sternly for a while. Reno imagined that the guy was about to deck him or something.  Obviously he was surprised when this turned out to not be the case. Dallen beamed at him and gave him a hearty slap that was probably a might too hard, almost knocking the younger man off his own stool.

          "You got balls Peaches, I'll give you that." He turned his back to Reno and started making for the door.  "I'll leave you to it then Tseng.  Good luck."

          When Dallen left, Reno turned his attention over to Tseng. "What did he mean by training anyway?"

          Tseng boosted himself off the back wall.  "Just a little. You'll do me no good if you are sent out only to die in the process of retrieving the information I need."

          Reno stood up and went about putting his shirt back on.  He had to wear one apparently borrowed from the gym.  It was too big and hung midway down his jean clad thighs.  "I don't need training." Reno told him, "S'not like this'll be my first time out on a job ya know."

          "A fact I am very aware of. But I still think you need something a little extra."

          "And I still don't think it's necessary."

*

          "Ow!"

          Tseng smirked at the man lying on his back on the mat and went to stand over him.

          "I thought you said you could handle yourself?"

          Reno got to his feet and rubbed absently at the side Tseng had hit. "Yeah, 'an I thought you wanted me to live through this job. I admit, I don't have Turk training," He added that last bit in a haughty mocking voice, "but I think I can manage to thieve these files you want easy enough."

          Tseng made to begin their sparring session again, but Reno refused to make ready. They had been at this for hours now, all the while, Tseng had gone over with him what was expected of him. Very precisely. He didn't know why Tseng was bothering to repeat himself so much. He had understood the proposal the first time they had gone over it. Basically, Tseng wanted him to steal a bunch of files from a downtown office. A buildings office. Not Shinra owned, and openly defiant to the whole company. While Reno had only paid little attentions as to why Tseng said he wanted the file, he had understood Tseng's reasoning for using him to obtain them. The buildings office hated Shinra and had refused to co-operate with the Turks thus far. If the Turks went about stealing anything and were caught, the office would have proof of Shinra being deviant and possibly make it public. Shinra didn't quite have the stranglehold over the press it wanted yet and such news would be devastating to the company. If a nobody slum-rat like Reno was caught, nobody would be the wiser.

          "With the trouble of late, they would be expecting Shinra to move against them. They will be ready."

          "Is their security better than Shinra's?" Reno asked offhandedly.

          "No. They lack the numbers, but they are still…"

          "Well, no problems then. You don't want to know how much stuff I've pilfered from you assholes in my time. If you say this is easier, then it should be no harder work than your right hand must do in a month in that depressingly lonely little hole of an apartment you have. Shinra security is no tougher to get around than a headless guard dog."

          He smiled a little smugly when he saw Tseng's quick blink of surprise. Tseng straightened up from his stance to face Reno a little better. "What do you mean?"

          "Well," Reno began, "You have everything in neat little order, no booze, hardly any real food. I bet you haven't had a woman in there since before the war…."

          "I meant about Shinra's security." Tseng interrupted gruffly.

          Reno only grinned wider. He'd known what Tseng meant, but drawing emotions out of this man was almost as hard as convincing most people that he was a decent guy with a well paying job. It was almost fun to bait him enough to respond.

          "Ah, now that would be a favor wouldn't it? You want the files, or do you want me to pick holes in your security setup? I'm not about to do you any more favors. You're going to kill me after you have the files anyhow."

          Tseng sighed, "For the tenth time, we will not kill you if you co-operate."

          "You know, you should make that the official Shinra logo. Why else would you be so free with Shinra business unless you knew I wouldn't be around afterward to use it against you?  Look, will you ease up on the training now? I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna get caught, and you're messing my 'do."

          Tseng spared one look at the mass of red messy hair and snorted. "If anything I've made it look better." He muttered to himself. To Reno he said; "Perceptive. But not perceptive enough. I have my reasons for telling you. It has nothing to do with killing you."

          Reno stared at him hands on hips and wrinkled his nose.

          "What?" Tseng finally asked, exasperated with the look.

          "Can you smell something bad? I sure can."

Tseng clenched his jaw in an effort to calm himself down. He was mildly surprised to discover how easily the boy was getting to him. It was exactly how he had been acting to Arkette to throw him off balance.  The tactic was the same, and so was the effect. It was making him unbalanced and had almost made him give away more than he had intended. He had his own reasons for well informing Reno of his task rather than just sending him out. He knew it was dangerous telling as much as he did. But if his plans came to fruit, it wouldn't matter what he'd told him. Of these plans, he'd told no one. Not even Dallen, though he knew his partner suspected.

_Where /was/ Dallen anyway? He was supposed to be here by now to…_

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a person coming into the room. He was trailed by three men, all in plain clothes.

Tseng almost smiled. _Just in time._

"How goes the training Peaches?" Dallen asked Reno. Dallen could plainly see several bruises beginning to bloom on the red-head's skin. Reno tried to not seem bothered by it though. 

"As well as can be expected. Lucky you came, I think Tseng here was getting a little tired."

Tseng ignored the barb, his eyes set firmly on Reno. He watched as Reno's gaze flickered quickly over those with Dallen taking everything in, sizing them all up. Tseng almost shook his head in wonderment. _Does he even realize he does it? Or does it come naturally? He's obviously never had any formal training._

Dallen didn't appear to notice though. "Good thing I brought more sparring partners for you then eh?" He said gesturing behind him. "Recruits unfortunately Peaches. I hope you don't go too hard on them." He told Reno mockingly.

A big guy directly beside Dallen seemed to catch the boy's eye more than the others. Not surprising considering what Dallen had just told him. /That/ particular man was a tall muscular ex-trooper that Tseng recognized as being the most likely candidate of the bunch for acceptance into the ranks.  All of the men assembled look tough enough, but to a lean guy like Reno, that particular guy might as well have been a mountain. Reno actually winced.

"Not sure I have the energy left thanks." He said smoothly.

"Nonsense. Just one round. Or have you been bragging for nothing?"

"Not nothing." Reno protested, "But it's hardly a fair fight, me already going into it not at my best."

Dallen smiled a gestured for the man mountain to come closer. "Go easy of Peaches Rude, he's had a busy day."

The man, Rude, nodded slightly and went over to replace Tseng's vacated position on the training mats. Once facing Reno, he cracked his knuckles quite audibly and settled into his own easy stance. Reno watched this all with a slightly bemused expression. "You're fucking kidding me."

Tseng crossed to stand by Dallen while the other recruits fanned out to watch the match. "Let me see you handle it." Tseng goaded him.  He expected the red-head to come back with a retort, or at least show some displeasure, but Reno managed to force a smirk onto his face as he turned to face Rude. He dropped into his position in and instant and stood ready.

"Is Rude your real name?" Reno asked in a forced amused tone.

Rude's eyebrows creased at the unexpected question, he didn't respond.

"I hope for your sake then that you were always a big guy, otherwise you must have been beaten up a lot as a child."

The last word was hardly out of Reno's mouth before he rushed at the big man. Rude, slightly off balance by the comment wasn't concentrating enough to ward off the blow to his mid-section. Rude took the blow with a small grunt and Reno used the time to retreat after a loudly exclaimed "Ow!" As he flexed his hand. "Gods, are you made of metal or something!?"

For most men Reno's size, that first punch would have decided the match right there. After all, he could hardly keep punching a man when it ended up hurting him more than who had been hit. But Tseng never underestimated the young man's abilities for one moment. All he need do was readjust his tactic. Shorter, but faster. More fragile, but more agile, Reno took only a few minutes to decide how to hit back. He readjusted his stance and kept moving. Constantly. Rude  watched his opponent a little uncertainly for a while. He looked back toward the two Turks on the sideline with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'Are you certain about this?' That one moment of distraction was all Reno needed though. Closing the distance again he leapt up and swept his right foot toward the side of the big man's head. Again Rude saw his mistake too late and didn't have time to even ward off the blow, the force of it enough to knock his entire body sideways, off balance. Reno landed and planted his heel into the back of Rude's knee, forcing it to collapse beneath him. Now that the man was in easier reach, Reno followed it up with a brutal hit to the side of his head, effectively forcing his head to snap further to the side once more, his momentum taking him all the way down to the mats. Rude hadn't even hit the mat before Reno turned back to the open-mouthed Dallen with a big grin.

"The bigger they are…." Reno began.

Dallen was speechless. Tseng was trying to hide his own smile as he gestured casually over Reno's shoulder. With a confused expression, Reno turned around just in time to cop a heavy fisted punch to his jaw. The punch hit solidly enough to make most everyone in the room wince, and for Reno's legs to stop supporting him. He landed on his back with a loud 'whomp'. Rude stood over the fallen man rubbing the side of his head with one hand. After a moment's hesitation, he held out a hand to Reno. After regaining his senses, Reno almost went to brush the hand aside. Finally he took it and allowed the other man to help him back up onto his feet. Reno wobbled for a little while, was sporting a cut lip, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. Rude on the other hand moved with an obvious limp, a small trickle of blood running down from a gash made by one of Reno's boots just above his ear.

"We might call that a tie." Tseng began, talking to Dallen.

"Please, he flattened your guy Tseng. I think you lost the bet."

"You were betting on us?" Reno asked eventually.

"Yeah, though I gotta admit, you did better than I would have imagined." Dallen began reluctantly. "Goes to show there is no such thing as 'sure money' anymore."

"Your faith in me is astounding." Reno replied sarcastically.

"Say nothing of it Peaches. But you should understand why I thought Rude here would win. He's been training for the Turks for almost two years. You, slum rat, have never fought anything more complicated than a drunken asshole in a barroom brawl I'm sure."

Tseng could tell that Reno was trying to keep his surprise off his face, but it only partially worked. "Two years?"

"Two years." Dallen affirmed.

What Dallen was trying to impress on him, without outright saying it, was that Reno was quite a good fighter. Though the Turks had rarely seen his skills out in the field, Tseng had seen enough to have an idea on the potential. And basically he wanted to know if the boy was good enough for what he had in store for him. He also wanted Reno to know his own potential, it would make things easier in the long run if he knew what he could handle. And although he knew that the astonishment of knowing he was just as good as their two year trained Turk recruit was evident on Reno's face, he wasn't surprised when the infuriating little bastard came out with the comment of; "And here I though that Shinra only hired the best. Pretty bad if a little nobody like me can take one of your golden boys on and almost win."

Tseng shook his head. Reno was being impossible.

Dallen wasn't so easily annoyed though. After a quick gesture from him, the other two recruits as well as Rude began stalking the lone red-head across the room. Reno held up his hands and started retreating. "Woah, guys can't take a joke?"

"We shall see how crap our recruits here are in a group then shall we?" Then to the recruits he said, "Just don't kill him guys. No wounds that can't be healed by materia." Dallen turned back to Tseng and motioned for them to move a little away from the men to talk. Tseng nodded. Together they walked over to the other side of the gym, far enough away for them not to be overheard. Occasionally though they could hear Reno's slightly panicked voice float up above the rest. 

"Easy guys, easy. Uh….guys? Guys!"

Dallen smiled slightly before turning his full attention back to Tseng. "Are you sure about this kid? I mean he's got the skills. For an untrained fighter he has better skills than I think /Hawkly/ ever had. But he's undisciplined and untrustworthy. I wouldn't even trust the guy to carry my shoes down the hall let alone recover some very important documents without at least three Turks looking over his shoulder. We could have just sent Rude you know."

Tseng paused for a moment and looked thoughtful. "I have a hunch."

Dallen immediately started shaking his head. "No, no, no. Not this again. Tseng, the last time you had a hunch we ended up in the middle of a gunfight in the sewer systems because you had a 'hunch' that the terrorist group we were looking for was hiding down there."

"I was right though wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but we didn't have to wait till we were literally knee deep in shit dodging bullets before waiting for backup. I never said you were wrong Tseng, but you sure prove your points the most dangerous way possible." Dallen sighed. "Look Tseng, Arkette is backing off now because the kid is /your/ prisoner. But if he even got a whiff of what you're trying to pull, he'll be off to the Presidential office faster than you can draw your gun to stop him. I'll do my duty, and I'll follow your 'hunches' into death and back Tseng, but I won't see Arkette take control of the Turks because a slum boy stabbed you in the back. If this looks for one moment to be going sour, I'll kill the boy myself."

"For my own good." Tseng muttered.

"For your own good." Dallen agreed.

"I don't believe he's had absolutely no training. I recognize some of the style, though he's obviously perverted it into something easier for him to use. Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure."

"I'll give you a sample of his prints. Can you get down to see the Midgar police. I'll be very surprise if he's never been arrested before by them. He may be slippery when dealing with us, but I doubt he was able to evade capture so easily for his /entire/ life."

"Where are you going to get a set of his prints? I'll assume he won't know you're doing this."

Tseng smiled ruefully. "From the materia orb he stashed in his pocket the moment you put it down beside him earlier. I'll get him to hand it back to me."

"That little bastard. I didn't even see that."

"Sirs!" Came a yell back over the other side of the gym. Both Tseng and Dallen turned back looking slightly irritated at the interruption. 

"What Whayne?" Dallen called back irritably.

Tseng took a look around. One of the recruits was down, apparently unconscious. The two Turks stood up near the back wall. Whayne stood turned toward the two Turks, but Rude was watching something up near the roof. Tseng followed his eyes up. There was a rope tied up so the men's training at scaling, near the top of that an air vent was open, its cover dangling on its hinges. There was no sign of Reno.

"He's gone." Tseng said before Whayne had a chance to answer.

Dallen moved his eyes to follow Tseng's. "Fabulous." Dallen muttered taking out his gun and starting toward the door. Tseng grabbed him.

"No." Tseng told him, guessing what the other Turk had in mind.

"C'mon Tseng, it can't get much more sour."

Tseng hardened his expression. "No. We'll find him."

Reluctantly Dallen put his gun away. "Fine, we'll do it your way." He resumed his heading to the door, calling our orders to the recruits as he went. "Whayne, take Mike to the infirmary. Rude, search this floor. I'll take the lower floors. Tseng,"

Tseng nodded, that left him with the upper floors. That was okay. That's what he wanted. He had a hunch…

*

18mins Later.

Dallen flattened himself against the wall beside the 50th Floor storage room. He'd seen a figure dart in here. Something with fiery red. He didn't think he'd been seen. At least he hoped not. It would make it much easier for the kid to believe he had found a safe hiding spot so he would stay put. Dallen smiled, he had him cornered. He unholstered his gun (Tseng had told him not to kill the kid, but that didn't mean he couldn't threaten him) and braced himself in front of the door. One swift kick and the door flew open, he bought his gun up and trained it on the unsuspecting occupant. Occupants actually. Two of them. Well, he'd been right about the red anyway.

"Dallen, what the fuck do you think you're doing!"

Dallen let him gun arm drop and relax his stance. "False alarm. Sorry Scarlet."

The young boy with her flushed red with embarrassment, and probably a healthy amount of fright at having the Turk burst in on them. If Dallen remembered correctly, the kid was from the mailroom. Fighting down an uncontrollable urge to snicker, he backed out of the storage room and closed the slightly cracked door.

"It's at times like this that I wish I'd bought my camera." A familiar voice said behind him.

Dallen spun around to face Reno with a shocked expression. He hadn't even heard him. Before he could bring his gun arm back up, Reno winked at him then turned and took off down the corridor at a run. Dallen pursued. He chased him around one corner then pulled up short. The corridor ended at a doorway to an office. The door was closed, locked. Most of the offices in the building could only be locked by a key that the owner kept on them at all times. So the kid hadn't gone in there. Apart from that, the corridor was empty.

"Little bastard." Dallen said almost appreciatively. 

Dallen sighed with resignation and started patting down his pockets to find his cigarettes. The kid was obviously playing with them, and from experience, he knew that the kid probably wanted them to start hunting around the building for him. This was just a game. Well, it was a game Dallen didn't like playing. 

He kept searching. _Where are…? _ He found his silver lighter, just not his smokes. Dallen's jaw clenched with sudden inspiration. He gave up his search for his smokes and hunted instead for his wallet. It was gone. Not to mention the keycard inside it.

"Goddamn little bastard!"

*

25mins Later.

Rude frowned slightly at the grate above his head. Though Dallen had told him to search this floor, he really had no need to. This entire floor /was/ the gym. If that scrawny little red-head (that Dallen had told them all was another possible recruit, but something Rude very much doubted after witnessing the escape) was stupid enough to stay on this floor, he deserved to be caught. Besides, Rude knew, like most other buildings, the air ducts led out into the elevator shaft. From there, all he had to do what wait till the elevator began moving. He wouldn't even need a keycard. Not that you did need one for any of the lower levels anyway.

So Rude continued to frown at the grate. Such a daring escape…

*

20mins Later.

Tseng stepped out of the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief. The office was empty. The massive office that took up a floor all on its own sat silent and undisturbed. The President must have been out at lunch. Tseng checked his watch. It was three o'clock now, he shouldn't have to expect the President back for another half hour at the very least. The President's lunch breaks were legendary in length and could last at anything between three and five hours. 

For the past half hour or so he'd been getting numerous calls from various personnel around the building complaining about an intruder in the building. All had given the same description. Male, about twenty years of age, red-hair, blue eyes and increasingly irritating. He had shown up in the weapons department almost causing a small emergency when he waltzed up to one of the mako rifle prototypes asking; "What does /this/ button do?" They had managed to put out the fire, but by the time the smoke had cleared, the intruder had been gone. Another one in the cafeteria where the same man had been seen adding a liter bottle of something blue into the soup special. Nobody knew what the something 'blue' could be, but Tseng didn't like to speculate. Though he had an idea where it had come from after he'd received a gruff call off Hojo exclaiming that one of his solutions had been stolen. There had been many more occurrences, the most recent one being in the taxation department where the Head of the department said he'd been assaulted. Apparently the intruder had just waltzed into the offices, demanded to see whoever was in charge and promptly decked the man explaining that it was; "courtesy of every single man, woman, child and chocobo living in Midgar." After pleasantly thanking them for their time, he'd strolled back out before anyone had gotten over the shock enough to raise the alarm. Tseng had tried to chase a few down but had soon given up. They had been reported to him because security was having trouble tracking the man down and so had deferred to the Turks. But Tseng was always too late. Didn't matter now. Everything had gone quiet about fifteen minutes ago anyway.  So, acting on his hunch, he'd ridden up to the 70th Floor to see if his suspicions were correct.

Stepping out onto the balcony, Tseng let out another sigh of relief. At the edge of the balcony, feet dangling over the edge, cigarette between his lips, Reno had his head back looking up at the sky.

"You know," Reno began before Tseng could get one step closer. "I rarely ever get to come up on the Plates of a daytime. I especially never get above the other buildings. And you know what's /really/ strange? I've never seen the sun. Not that you can hardly see it through Midgar smog half the time anyway. But up here….I can actually see it."

Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been this. He remained silent and stopped walking forward. Waiting for the other to continue speaking.

He did, but he lost the slightly wistful edge to his voice. "How'd ya know I'd be up here?"

"First time you've been loose in the Shinra Building. I assumed you'd want to take a peek at the man who ran the company."

"Maybe take a stab at him too?" Reno asked craning around slightly to see Tseng's face. 

"Maybe." 

Reno turned away again. "Believe it or not, I don't have a death wish. And I'm not so caught up in the esteemed Cause that my boss seems to be that I'd put a price on my head for it. Well at least not one quite so big."

"I don't believe it." Tseng said simply.

"You think I have a death wish? Well, I hate to break it to you, but you aren't as all knowing as I reckon you'd like to think you are." This time he swiveled all the way around to face Tseng side on. He grinned at Tseng.  "I don't want to die. I just want to have fun."

A smile tugged at the corner of Tseng's mouth. "Why didn't you leave? You've had security chasing you half-way around the building. I'd find it difficult to believe you couldn't have evaded the guards on the door if you wanted to leave."

"I've studied the plans for this building you know." Reno said changing the subject. "I had to. We were gonna come here last year. You guys had one of ours locked up in a cell after yous caught him tryna steal something from one of the reactors. We didn't end up going through with it though. There was no need. Not after yous dumped his body practically on Rankin's doorstep with a bullet in his head." The unusually somber red-head fixed Tseng with a hard glare. "You didn't even keep him a week."

"That's why you think we will kill you."

"Pretty valid reasoning if you ask me."

"It doesn't matter if I try to reassure you again does it?"

"Not really."

"Then why didn't you take off? I take it that you are staying." Tseng tried again.

"Worse to be hunted down and killed I guess. I was going to go, that's why I escaped. Then I realized that any life in Midgar I could have after that wouldn't be much of a life if Arkette wants me dead. I'd rather not bother." A shadow of a smile came back now. "But I wasn't about to make it too easy either. Especially after you set those three guys on me."

"So I can keep worrying that the minute I turn my back again I'm going to get an irritated phone call from Urban Development telling me you've replaced most of their models with Lego or something?"

"Probably. Though you'll more than likely get a call from them anyway. I went there and saw a model of an apartment block in one of the offices. Complete with a roof pool as well. Didn't look authentic enough though. No water in the pool or anything. I helped them out and filled it up for them."

Tseng groaned. "Tell me you didn't…."

Reno grinned. "If you insist."

***********

_Notes: *giggling hysterically* Gives new meaning to the whole concept doesn't it? Not many notes this time 'cept for sorry it took so long, sorry it was so crap, and sorry Rude seemed a little retarded. Hmmm, things are getting interesting. I wonder if Peaches'll make it to the job without Dallen killing him first *snickers*_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_The source of all the world's true evil._

_Plus a mailing list!_


	5. Bondage Fun

I Must Be Insane.

_By AF_

**Chapter 5**

Bondage Fun.

          "Rise an' shine, Peaches. I have a present for you!"

          Reno groaned at the sudden voice and tried to roll over, away from it. He succeeded in ignoring it until he grunted with the pain of a kick in the ribs.

          "Fuck off." Reno grumbled holding his side.

          "And a bright good morning to you too." Dallen continued bright and cheery. "You can't expect to lay there all day, you have work to do."

          Reno managed to get one hand away from his side and out beneath the blankets in order to raise one slender middle finger at Dallen.

          Dallen's only comment was; "You're usually more subtle than that. Still tired?"

          Of course he was still tired. Tseng and Dallen both had him up and awake for more than eighteen hours yesterday, more than twelve of that spent in training. Same with the day before. And the day before that. It was really becoming a tiresome regime for him. Each night they gave him a potion to recover with, but that couldn't sooth away tiredness. In fact it only made him seem to need more sleep while the potion cured various bumps and bruises. But pointing this out to Tseng or Dallen wouldn't do any good. They both were probably fully aware of what they were doing to him, and Dallen would only use the complaint as a way to poke fun at him. He was irritable enough, he didn't need the extra aggravation. They wouldn't even supply him with a proper bed. Every night he was marched back up to the cell block where they would bundle him into the same old cell and not come back till morning to take him for more lessons or lectures. He had once thought that the cell cot looked more comfortable than his own bed back at Rankin's. That was only true to a point. It was in better condition, but the mattress was only about an inch thick. Reno could feel the cool metal underneath most nights, doubly so on cold nights and it was beginning to give him a chill. And he sure as hell wasn't going to complain about getting a sniffle to the Turks. 

          "No more than your mother probably is about now, returning from her night job at Corneo's." Was the half-hearted reply. Even without his eyes open, he could still imagine Dallen biting back a smirk.

          "You must be tired." Dallen concluded. "Not only are you usually more subtle, you usually aren't reduced to the mother jokes till at least six hours into your floor exercises." 

          "You know, there's a name for what you assholes are doing to me. It's called slave labor."

          "You're not a slave Peaches. You're a prisoner."

          Dallen grabbed the hand Reno was still using to give his unwanted guest the finger and snapped something over his wrist before he could even open his eyes. "What th'…?"

          "Told you I had a present for you. Now, get up and get dressed. You'll want to hurry." With that Dallen left Reno, walking back out through the cell door, leaving it open for the prisoner to obediently follow after. His cell was still dark thankfully, the only light spilling in through the open door. One concession that the Turks had given him was darkness to sleep in. Under normal circumstances the fluorescents were  kept on day and night regardless. 

          He sat up and rubbed his still weary eyes trying to wake himself up. It didn't quite work, he was still too tired. He didn't much care. He had no want to rush around for these fools anymore than he wanted to be working for them. Snagging his shirt off the end of the bed where he'd dumped it last night he stood up and pulled it on. Then he went to reach for his pants wishing he'd done it first. The air conditioning in this building was way too cold outside the thin blanket they'd given him to be wandering around in his boxers. Before he could grab them, a tingle started up his arm. Stopping with the odd sensation, he looked at his right arm. Shiny, black with a few little buttons and lights. The thing that Dallen had snapped around his wrist. It fit like a loose, black bangle. The tingle ran up the entire length of his arm, then up his neck. Soon it filled his head with a sort of buzz. Not unpleasant. Not at first. Then it began to grow in intensity till it became more like someone was running a lit cigarette lighter up the length of his arm. And it continued growing in intensity and pain until he couldn't help agonizing yelp he made. It felt as though as if someone had ran a blade through his wrist. He wanted to tear at the bracelet to get it off his arm, but he was paralyzed from the pain. Then when he thought it couldn't possibly get worse, the pain, like always, began to travel up his arm. A hoarse cry was ripped from his throat as it reached his elbow. Somehow the thought of that pain getting into his head was unbearable and he knew for a certainty that he would die if it got that close. If it got into his head, his brain, he was done for. He could barely stand the intense pain running up his arm as it was. Convulsively he dropped to his knees on the hard floor and fought not to scream. So this was how they were going to kill him. They weren't going to torture him, they'd done that with all that bullshit about training and a job. They'd certainly beat him up more in the last few days than he had been in the last three years. They weren't even going to simply put a bullet in his brain. This was far more painful. 

          Then, abruptly, the pain began to recede. Not entirely noticeable at first. But the pain began to lessen till there was only a slight burning up his arm and a headache. With the pain decrease, he also heard the footsteps hurrying back toward his room. The pain was entirely gone when Dallen finally stuck his head back in through the doorway. 

          "Didn't I tell you to hurry?" 

          For a second, Reno couldn't understand what had happened. He had been certain he was going to die. But now…He blinked at Dallen, then at his seemingly normal arm and the smooth black metal bracelet on his wrist.

          _…Hurry…_

          Reno cocked his head to the side in all calmness and looked to Dallen in the doorway. Dallen was grinning the way he always did when Reno was able to pick up on something he'd taught him. He'd done it with numerous training exercises, and he was doing it again now. In the blink of an eye, Reno was on his feet and leaping at Dallen snarling. He bodily drove Dallen out of the cell and into the wall across the hall outside the cell. Reno managed to get one hand around the Turk's neck before he heard a dull metal click from behind and the slight pressure of something up against the back of his head.

          "Let go." Tseng commanded.

          Dallen was beginning to gasp and was trying to free his hands from the grip Reno hadn't been aware of binding both his hands with. He only had one free hand to do this while he was slowly choking the life out of the Turk, but he was livid. So far he had put up with their lessons. Listened to their lectures. Obeyed most of their commands. They had not right to leash him like some pet. To take away the last of his free will. He knew that's what the bracelet was for. To assure he wouldn't run away. Shit, he doubted he'd be allowed to go to the bathrooms to take a leak unless they let him. His grip on Dallen's throat tightened.

          "Shoot me." He dared Tseng through grit teeth.

          He thought he heard Tseng sigh and mutter something behind him before something hard impacted with the back of his skull. Instinctively he released his hold on Dallen just before he felt a second hit, a punch in his ribs from Dallen this time. It wasn't a particularly hard hit, but it was aimed nicely enough to send him back down onto his knees. 

          Dallen stepped away from the wall and closer to Tseng, the latter holstering his gun underneath his coat with no apparent emotion or rush. Dallen was rubbing his throat, but he didn't look angry. Tseng though fixed him with a look that seemed less than approving. 

"You could have handled that better." He told Dallen.

"Somehow I doubted he'd believe me about the bracelet it I merely told him. The deterrent is more effective after feeling the effects first hand."

The fact that they now seemed to be talking over him did nothing to sooth Reno's mood. "What did you put on me!" He growled, glaring up at the two.

After a moments hesitation, Tseng crouched by Reno and looked him in the eye. "As you've probably figured out, it is a device to stop you from wandering too far away. The distance allowed is determined by programming the bracelet. At present it is set at forty feet and is triggered by the presence of an object every Turk carries. If you step without five feet of the maximum allowed distance you begin to get severe headaches and pain in your right wrist. More than twenty feet and a very intense pain will reach your brain causing an aneurysm." Tseng finished in a tone that said he could have been explaining how a vending machine worked. 

"So I'm nothing more than a dog on a leash? You could have warned me."

"What?" Dallen broke in. "And have you run off before the job was completed? We've invested too much time in you just to have you run off." His usual light mood was gone, the red marks of Reno's fingers around his throat still an angry red on his skin. "Too much of everything. And don't say you wouldn't have thought about running. Gods know if I were in your position I'd do more than think about it. "

"So you thought you'd demonstrate the bracelet by almost giving me a stroke?!"

"The most effective way." Dallen replied. "You know you have no reasons the test the boundaries now, you've felt the effects. Now you know better."

"If you'd told me my brain would explode I might have listened to you."

The seriousness seemed to ease from Dallen's face a little at that comment. He even offered Reno a light smile along with a hand to help him back onto his feet.  Reluctantly Reno took the proffered hand and boosted himself up.

"You might have. Or you mightn't have. You think enough of yourself to think you might be able to get around it and not realize your folly until you were on the ground writhing in pain. Neither me nor Tseng will know when you step outside the boundary. If you'd left it till then, we couldn't have helped you. We could have unwittingly stepped three foot the wrong way to get a cup of coffee and end your life."

Tseng straightened and disappeared into Reno's cell, reappearing in moments, handing Reno his pants and motioning for him to get dressed.

As Reno struggled into them he asked; "Why leash me at all? Did I do something naughty? Pass gas in the wrong direction?"

Dallen went to answer, but Tseng cut him off. "Orders." He replied simply. Dallen frowned at Tseng. "We might as well tell him."

"Fine." Tseng sighed again. "Orders of the Vice-President after your little jaunt through the building. He's sick of the complaints from various departments."

Despite earlier moods, Reno almost smiled at the reminder. "So I /was/ naughty. The Vice-President you say?" Reno regarded the bangle again and grinned. "Almost makes it worth it. Not everyday I get a chance to piss off such an important person. Next time I might try for the President."

"Pray there isn't a next time." Tseng said grimly. 

Once Reno was fully dressed, both the Turks began leading him out of the cell block. "Buck up Peaches, there is good news." Dallen told him as they walked. "You've earned a day off. Sort of."

Reno was so surprised that he almost tripped. _A day off? Since when…? _Then; "Wait, what do you mean; 'sort of'?"

Dallen just smiled and kept walking. 

**********

Reno sniffed the glass gingerly and didn't take a sip.

"It's not poison." Dallen told him, watching. "It's whiskey. Plain old, sixty gil a bottle whiskey."

"Plain old sixty gil? Nothing plain old about that. My entire food for three months back home wouldn't cost as much as that 'plain old' bottle." Reno informed him, no less dubious.

"Just a poor little slum rat aren't you?" Dallen answered with mock sympathy. "Drink it or don't. And get back to studying that blueprint. I want your input before I come back out here again."

"So this is the 'sort of' you meant?" Reno asked the back of the retreating Turk. "You haven't got me climbing ropes or beating me senseless, you've got me sitting at a desk. Hardly what I'd call a day off."

"Finish what you're doing. I've fixed the bracelet so you can wander around a little. Just don't leave a hundred foot radius."

Reno shot Dallen a sour look, but the Turk ignored it and left the room. He stepped into an inner office behind the one he'd left Reno in and closed the door behind him. At the noise, Tseng looked up from the papers he was reading and motioned for Dallen to sit down.

"Is this everything they had?" He asked.

Dallen nodded, a little surprised. "I took the prints in, this is all they gave me. I haven't exactly looked through it myself, but that's pretty bulky for what I had imagined. Shit, we haven't been able to catch him before, I didn't imagine the Midgar Police Department would have fared better."

"Only until three years ago. About the same time as he would have joined Rankin and learnt properly how to avoid being caught." Tseng reminded. "You said you haven't read this?" He asked gesturing to the file.

"Not a word. Why should I have?"

Tseng leant back in the chair and balanced the file on crossed legs. "Do you know that he doesn't even have a last name?" Tseng said almost musing to himself.

"Doesn't surprise me. Though he could have and not told them. Some kids parents are hard to track in the slums. What's his first?"

"Reno." Tseng answered.

"Pity. I was hoping for something like Lionel. So what's his story?"

"You were right, there is no mention of parents listed. He never even used his one phone call half the time he was brought in." It was a little known fact that those phone calls were monitored by the department. "From the age of about nine, he's been picked up for numerous things. Thieving mainly. And I get the impression that more often than not, he got away with it. These are just the rare and unlucky times he was actually caught. He was never picked up after he was eighteen so he always eventually had to be let go again. A few petty fights and misdemeanors, nothing major. Though there is mention of him referring to another file they have on Don Corneo. Worked for him apparently, I have a copy of that file here too. Worked for him from about the age of fourteen to just before he took up with Rankin. Running errands, sometimes playing at body guarding. I expect that is where he learnt how to fight properly. That mixed with what he would have to learn to stay alive this long is what we keep seeing in the gym. Apparently the job didn't last long though. He's only mentioned in the file because of a falling out they had that resulted in the mansion almost getting burnt down and a few of the henchmen getting killed. Not to mention the Don himself with more than a few bruises."

Dallen eyes widened in surprise. "You're kidding me? That was our little Peaches that did that?" Dallen remembered hearing about that at the time. He just assumed it was another activist group getting riled up about the Honeybee again. "And he was like fifteen, sisteen?" The surprise turned into a slightly calculating look after that. "So he's got his hands bloody before. Killed."

"It would seem so. He was picked up for it though, but they couldn't hold him and couldn't get a hold of his parents to release him into their care." Tseng sounded a little troubled.

"He's also an apt thief I take it? That'll help."

"I should think so." Tseng answered, unsure sounding. He still wore that troubled look.

Dallen looked Tseng over carefully for a moment without speaking. "What's up with you? I would have thought that knowing all this shit would be a good thing. Instead you seem more worried about it than not. He has the skills Tseng, and he shows no real love all alliance to anything but himself and whoever is paying him. This is good news."

Tseng didn't seem to hear him. "You know he's only nineteen best I can figure."

"Well that's older than I would have guessed. But what do you mean, best you can figure? Surely it's got his birthday in that file."

"I don't think he knows what it is. His birthday is listed as the 1st of January. While that could be true. It's usually the day they give those that don't know for sure."

"So he lied." Dallen replied. 

"Why would he? You said so yourself that he looks younger than his age. If he were going to lie, he'd make himself younger. After all, he can't be fully tried for anything until he had turned eighteen. If he were truly going to, he'd make himself seventeen now. He could probably pull it off with only a few dubious looks."

"Maybe he realized that he'd start to look his age soon. You know how boys grow. By the time he's twenty, he'll look twenty five."

"He wouldn't have thought of that at the age of nine." Tseng answered confidently. "He's still very young."

Dallen narrowed his eyes at his partner. Until now, he'd only suspected what was /really/ going on. "For what Tseng? Too young for what?"

Tseng gave him an irritated look. "You know very well 'what for'."

"He won't go for it Tseng. You offer him a job and he'll politely tell you where to stick it before running. Besides, you really think he'll fit in with the training program? He lacks the discipline and focus for the lessons."

"I wouldn't put him in the training program. He doesn't need it."

"Granted he's skilled. But he'll never follow orders without it." Dallen went silent for a moment, seeing the look on Tseng's face. "No." He said suddenly.

"What?" Tseng asked innocently. Well as innocently as Tseng could get.

"Are you /that/ sure?"

"Are you /that/ sure about Rude?"

"He's a fine candidate." Dallen spoke defensively. "A more than adequate replacement for me if the time should ever come. I chose him for that purpose. But Tseng this is very different. You have a chance to become leader."

"The reason I believe I was chosen in the first place." Tseng reminded. "Chosen by that current leader."

"Vincent Valentine is not exactly the best sponsor." He needed have told Tseng that. Him being sponsored by Valentine was one of the reasons he wasn't elevated above Hawkly after the formers disappearance. Under normal circumstances, each Turk sponsors a recruit during their career. Dallen had in fact just sponsored his own recruit from this batch. Rude. During Rude's training, he would be personally taught by Dallen in every area of Dallen's expertise. It was also a way for each Turk to learn a little more responsibility. Often it was given as a punishment. Not in Dallen's case. He had simply seen the man's skills and decided on giving him an extra year of training. Sponsoring was also usually done toward the end of most Turk's careers. Dallen was still young, but nothing was ever certain within the Turks, especially when someone's end might actually come. In all, the Turks were allowed six men in their department, though usually the number would not go above five. Dallen himself had been sponsored, but his sponsor had retired not long after. The first Turk to actually do that before. Tseng's sponsor had gone missing. A pity really. Since Tseng's sponsor had been the Leader and the time. At his disappearance, Tseng should have taken over. But Tseng was still very young, and most argued that Valentine had not bee a very capable man to begin with. Rumors, that's all it was. But Tseng had been passed up for the position in favor of a man named Rogers. Hawkly's sponsor. Nobody seemed to remember who Arkette's sponsor had been. Tseng was the only one around back then and Arkette had joined some eight months previously. Most of the time, the sponsored recruit became the sponsor's new partner. As what had happened with Arkette and Gafford. Tseng had never sponsored anyone, and until now, neither had Dallen. Dallen only chose to now because he had been sure he was going to lose a partner to the leadership. However, a new leader hadn't been named yet. Hawkly had not sponsored anyone yet. It now fell between the two most mature Turks. Dallen had assumed it would be Tseng because that's what Tseng had initially been trained for. But the assumption had been premature. Arkette had been with the company longer and assumed himself that that was grounds for taking the leadership himself. It had been a long time coming, this clash. Hawkly had left it too long no matter what. Death rates for the leaders were high and Hawkly had lasted longer than most suspected he would. Even had he chosen somebody three years ago, the chosen man would've been too inexperienced for the prestigious position. 

Still, Dallen was positive. So long as Tseng didn't manage to foul up too badly in the meantime, he was in a good position for the promotion. The Vice-President, President and Heidigar all seemed impressed with him. But in reality, it all really rested on the outcome of this upcoming job. If it went wrong, Tseng's chances were finished and they'd probably send Arkette and Gafford out to kill Reno. If it was successful, (those files being /that/ important) but Reno turned the job down, Arkette would still kill him and Tseng would get berated for sharing so much information with a known felon. Reno was the real catch. Tseng seemed to want to solve the problem by recruiting him. At least then he could pass him off as a company man. And why not? Before now they had been going to send Rude. But here Tseng wasn't thinking of asking Reno to join the recruits, he was going to ask him to join the Turks. Sponsoring him even. It was unprecedented. Few Turks were ever offered the position straight up. Tseng had been, but he was well trained before being spotted by Valentine. And if Tseng /did/ somehow pull all this off, and became leader, Reno would become… 

Such a thought was not a happy one. Dallen sort of liked the kid, but Arkette and Gafford would lay eggs. 

"I was right." Dallen continued. "You /are/ insane. Idealistically you have to have a successful mission and then have the kid disappear. Say he was a contact. Say the information came from one of the Rebel Groups. Don't say that you well informed your prisoner in deep Shinra stuff then offered him a position in the Turks."

"Vincent was a fine teacher." Tseng went on apparently ignoring his partner. He sighed deeply and looked up from the file. "You're right about one thing though. If Arkette takes command who knows what'll happen. He thinks too rashly and believes things can only be solved through violence and only violence. The more the better. And he has taught Gafford no different. Gafford already had enough experience to take over from him if Arkette died a week into his leadership. /Idealistically/ I'd ask to sponsor you and let you send Rude." He said the last part almost as a joke.

"Too late for that now." Dallen replied carefully, watching Tseng, "Even if you were likely to do it. But Tseng, this wont work."

"Because he won't follow orders like Rude would?" Tseng's face almost twisted up into a grimace. "That man follows orders so well I doubt he knows how to think for himself much anymore."

"He was a trooper for eight years Tseng what do you expect. Besides, following orders blindly is kind of the point isn't it?"

"Not for a trained leader."

Dallen sat back in his chair, obviously out of things to argue. "You really mean to do this don't you? You mean to make that obnoxious, defiant, smart-mouthed slum rat into your chosen. Perhaps to be the next leader himself."

"If he agrees." Tseng acknowledged.

"And if he doesn't?"

"We pass him off as you said, a contact. He /is/ a member of a rebel group. Arkette need not know about all we've told the boy. If this goes smoothly, Arkette wont even know who it was that retrieved the files. He'll know what we tell him and nothing more. If it comes to that I'll tell him I interrogated the prisoner and sent him home. I would say that we killed him, but I wouldn't trust Reno to stay hidden from the Turks for long."

"Keeping secrets in this building won't be good for your health. Don't look at me like that, I'm not going to say anything. But that doesn't mean I agree with what you are doing. When will you ask him?"

"After the job. I don't want to give him time to think about it."

"Doesn't matter how much time you give him. I'll bet you a hundred gil he'll turn you down. He's not like you Tseng. Methinks you're trying to see what isn't there like you usually do. He won't take the job no matter how many pretty speeches you make about saving the city from scum. He thinks we are part of that scum, and at times, I'm not likely to disagree. If he asks, I'll tell him that too."

"I'll take that bet. I do see other things in him. I have from the first time he lead us by our noses around the city three year ago. And I know, he is nothing like me. Which is why I am so sure he will accept. He doesn't want to think of the good of the city. He wants to think for the good of himself. Not egotistical mind you," Tseng added seeing the look on Dallen's face, "Just determined. He's actually more like you." He continued thoughtfully. "And you said yes when you were asked."

"Yeah, but Rankin never really did take his job seriously."

*

With a heavy sigh that seemed to come all the way from his toes, Reno pushed himself away from the desk and got to his feet. He was sick of looking at the blueprint. Dallen and Tseng had been gone for hours and he'd been studying the layout of the building etched on the prints since. He figured by now he could single-handedly rebuild the building from the ground up. He knew his plan of action back to front (whether the two Turks agreed with it or not). Only now he was bored. He slipped the notes he had made on a scrap piece of paper into his pocket and stood up. At least Dallen told him he was allowed to wander a bit. Only problem was that he had been given wandering privileges on a floor that was almost as uninteresting as looking at the plans. Still, walking was better than sitting.

Few people were on the floor, and none really gave him more than a sideways glance. He guessed that anyone seen in this building must have plenty of right to be there or they wouldn't have gotten so far. Didn't matter it was still weird to walk around the building and have people think he belonged there. Half the time he didn't even get that at Rankin's. Wandering further and further away from the Turk's offices, he eventually caught sight of the elevator bank. Thinking that going up or down one floor shouldn't hurt the distance much, he started toward them. He got perhaps ten foot away when the tingling began and his head started to ache a little. Experimentally, he backed up one step and the pain ceased. With a thoughtful expression he raised one arm up and away from his body, his right arm. The tingling began again, but didn't pass his wrist.

Vaguely he heard footsteps coming down another hallway. In a few more steps he could have looked to his left, down the hall, but for now it was out of sight. He didn't really care anyway. Well he didn't until the footsteps came out of the corridor to the front of the elevators. 

"Mr. Riedan!" The voice had come from the hall the two people in front of the elevator had emerged from, and effectively stopped the pair on their journey to the elevator. 

The man, who Reno assumed to be Mr. Riedan turned and watched as a younger man trotted toward him waving a few sheaves of papers. The two talked for a moment in tones Reno couldn't hear before Riedan turned and said something to his companion. This Reno /did/ hear.

"Stay here dear, I wont be a moment." 

His companion, a young girl (woman?) nodded once and watched the two men leave, back down the corridor. None of them had noticed the ruffled looking red-head with his arm stuck out in front of him all through the interchange. Surely if they had, the man wouldn't have been so quick to leave the girl with such dubious looking company. And Reno wouldn't have blamed the man one bit. He was thinking quite a few interesting thoughts. She was really quite pretty. She wasn't exactly a girl who could light up a room with her fabulous looks, but Reno would bet a million gil that she could when she smiled. Perhaps when she matured a little.  But she wasn't smiling now. She brushed a touch of lint off the front of her long blue dress absently and turned just enough for her eyes to encounter the open-mouthed stare of Reno. Quickly as he could, Reno closed his mouth and lowered his arm, appearing to look casual. Well as casual as he could look standing in the middle of a featureless hallway after being caught openly staring. She seemed a little surprised at first to see him but soon got over it, smoothing her features with an ease Tseng would have been proud of. 

She offered a tight lipped smile and a soft; "Hi."

"Hi." He returned. And he figured that would be the end of that. A polite hello and nothing more. He was rather delighted to be proved wrong.

She took a few steps closer to him and subtly looked him over. He didn't feel embarrassed or irritated by the glance. In fact she only seemed to be curious about him, if not a little shy. "A little young to work here aren't you?"

Reno raised an eyebrow at her question. She can't have been much off his own age herself. Perhaps a year of two older, perhaps younger. "Could say the same about you."

Her face lightened a little and she shook her head. "Oh, I don't work here. My father has a contract for the company in Junon. I accompany him on his business trips. To learn." She brushed a strand of short blond hair away from her face and tucked it behind an ear. "My name is Elena."

"Oh."

"And you?" She prompted.

"Reno." He answered immediately. He hadn't meant to tell her that. _Perhaps that's what the Turks needed, _He mused, _A pretty face like this in their ranks._ Already he'd told her more about himself than he'd told either of the Turks.

She nodded and actually smiled warmly. Reno felt he could have won that bet easily. "What are /you/ doing here Reno?"

Unconsciously Reno went to hide his right hand behind his back, but Elena saw it before he had a chance to.

"What's that?"

He prepared to hand her a lie. Even opened his mouth to deliver it, but changed his mind. So what if he told her the truth? He didn't care. Might teach certain people that even putting him on a leash wouldn't keep him out of mischief. Besides, Elena's smile was having a weird effect on him.

"I'm a prisoner." He said blandly holding his arm up for her to see the bangle.

Elena's smile widened and she laughed lightly. "Very funny."

Reno tried to keep his expression light, but serious. "No really. I work for a Rebel group in the slums. I led the Turks into a trap where their leader was killed. I was captured and bought in for questioning. This," He nodded toward the bangle, "is to make sure I don't wander off before they're through torturing me. If I wander too far it'll send powerful currents up into my brain and kill me."

Whether Elena believed him or not, he wasn't sure. She wasn't laughing anymore. Maybe she had finally taken in his shabby clothing and appearance. He certainly didn't look like an employee.

"You're a prisoner?" She asked only a touch dubiously.

"Sure am." He leaned toward her confidentially, "I don't expect to live through the week. Think I pissed 'em off."

Elena unconsciously took a step back from him.

"Not afraid of me are you?"

She seemed to realize what she was doing and made herself reclaim the step toward him, head up. "Of course not. Why should I be?"

"I could be a bad influence on rich little girls. I'm a criminal after all. I doubt daddy would approve of you talking to me."

"I'm hardly a little girl. /Boy/." She emphasized the word deliberately. "And I'm my own person. I'll talk to whomever I wish to." She finished haughtily looking him in the eye.

Suddenly, Reno began to feel a little pain running from his wrist. Not intense. Not yet. Both Turks must have moved away from him, drawing the barrier with them. Accidental perhaps. But they had remained in the same place all morning.  More likely, this was Dallen's way of calling him back. After all, there was only really one way he could have gone since leaving the office he'd been put in. They had probably moved on purpose.

Reno struggled to keep his face passive, but he could feel the sweat begin to bead on his forehead as the pain increased. He mustn't have managed to keep a straight face.

"Are you alright?" She asked concerned, the haughty expression gone from her voice. In a way, Reno was glad for that. It hadn't suited her.  

"Think I'm wanted elsewhere." He replied steadily.

"You won't /really/ die will you? You were only joking right?" 

The pain steadily increased to that burning sensation. He knew he shouldn't linger here any longer. "Maybe." He answered. "Maybe not. But if that is the case, I would like to ask a pretty girl a favor if I may?"

Elena's cheeks colored slightly but she nodded her ascent. Without actually asking the favor, Reno leaned forward and kissed her. As he had leant forward, further out of the barrier, a new more agonizing pain lanced across his brow almost causing him to cry out. But he bit the reflex back enough to concentrate on what he wanted to do. He'd never kissed a rich Plate girl before. He didn't know why he thought it may be any different from any other girl. Didn't feel any different. Soft, warm, clean. He didn't dare move his hands from her face though. A new first for him. But he distinctly felt one of her hands on his arm, the other on the back of his neck. Well, at least she was responding finally. A fresh wave of pain raced over him forcing a gasp from him. He had to stop. As soon as he leant away from her, he took the opportunity too look at her face. Slightly pink lips, glittering blue eyes, a faint blush on her cheeks.

Then she slapped him. Surprisingly forceful enough to knock his head sideways, though he could hardly feel it over the pain radiating from the bracelet. Walking backwards, away from her, he managed a lopsided grin.

"My undying apologies," Reno told her forcing himself to talk absolutely proper, the way Rankin had taught him. "But immense gratitude for granting the last wish of a dying man."

She hadn't looked especially angry even when she'd slapped him. She didn't look any different now except from the slight upturning of one corner of her mouth. "I hope it was worth it."

"Very much so." He blew her a kiss, turned and started trotting back toward the offices, the pain in his head lessening with every stride.

_Maybe Plate people aren't so bad after all…_

****

_Notes: well well well, Reno has been put on a leash has he? That could get a bit uncomfortable for over beloved anti-hero. And the Elena scene….how could I resist? More action next chapter I promise._

_Thank you all so much for your reviews. I may have mentioned this but this was only going to be a very small fic. It just got so popular that I couldn't help myself and had to make it longer. Who knows where it may end? _

_Certainly not I._

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Are you insane enough to visit?_


	6. Pushing Your Luck

****

****

I Must Be Insane.

_By AF_

**Chapter VI**

**Pushing Your Luck.**

          "You know, it would be easier to concentrate without you droning in my ear about the fucking weather." Reno grated through clenched teeth. 

His hold on the drainpipe was precarious at best. And he certainly didn't need the two Turks to tell him that it was raining. He had figured that one out for himself what with him being drenched by it and everything. 

"As you wish Peaches." Came the naturally mocking voice of Dallen through the earpiece in his ear. "Anything else I can do for you? Rub your shoulders, fetch your slippers?"

"You can kiss my ass." Reno replied sweetly. 

"Will you two cut it out." Tseng's slightly irritated voice cut in, "You are acting like children."

Reno readjusted his grip and continued his climb up the slick drainpipe. He must have ended up falling down three feet for every four he gained because of the shitty weather and he was making slow progress. It didn't help that most of the handholds and footholds he'd managed to find were all half rusted through and crumbled beneath his fingers and boots more often than not.

"I act however I want to act." He informed Tseng severely, "I'm the one climbing up two stories on a rusty drainpipe while you guys are warm and cozy over the road. /Inside/." Over the road all dry and comfortable under a roof and off the streets. The only good that he could think of in that was that they had had to give him a farther reach on his 'leash' for the mission. A whole mile even.

Reno raised his head and stopped climbing for a moment as a few fat drops of rain fell into his eyes obscuring his vision. "And why the /fuck/ is it always raining when I do this shit!"

He heard Dallen chuckle slightly and tried to ignore it.

"Just concentrate on what you're doing Reno. It will be over soon."

It still irked him that they had found out his real name. One of the only things he'd managed to keep of himself and not lost in time. No doubt, both Turks had pulled his record and now knew more about him than he did. He had liked the certain amount of mystery for while. Unpredictability. Tseng probably had him profiled to a tee now. It made him a little more than nervous that someone who might kill him knew that much about him.

Shaking the rain from his eyes, he continued on his way. His point of entry was a second floor office window that Dallen had told him didn't have any security alarms on it. Apparently the guy that worked in that office had disabled them himself so he could open the window for fresh air during work hours and always failed to reset it of a night. From there it was only a short trip down the hallway to the office he wanted. Where Tseng's precious files were kept. 

After just one afternoon with the floor plans and the Turk's notes, he was able to plan everything out precisely. Every little detail was stored in his memory ready for use. He didn't bother writing it down, no need. Even Tseng had commented that he must have a photographic memory for details. The only problem he could figure would be if the sole guard on the security desk downstairs started his rounds early. A simple desk guard only. But one that was armed which was more than could be said for him. All he had was an outfit of all black clothes, he suspected were brand new, and a knife hanging in a simple belt sheath by his left hip.

"You could have given me a gun." Reno bitched for maybe the tenth time. Sure he didn't have all that much experience with the things, but it was better with a gun if push game to shove. At least better than a simple eight inch knife blade.

"And run the risk of you shooting yourself in the foot and alerting the entire neighborhood?" Dallen answered immediately. "I think not."

More than likely, they hadn't given him one for the sole reason that they didn't trust him with one. And with good reason. He was just as likely to shoot either of the two Turks than any resistance he might find in the building.

"Blow me." Reno returned catching hold of the intended windowsill above his head and pulling himself up onto the narrow ledge.

"If you managed to pull this off Peaches, I may just consider it."

A sour look crossed Reno's face as he fumbled in his back pocket for his tools. He extracted a slim leather case and plucked a thin metal piece from the collection stored there.  "Promise me you won't and I promise not to run screaming like a girl the next time I see you."

I'm hurt Peaches. Really."

"You both will be if you don't cut it out with the banter." Tseng's serious voiced weighed in.

If you insist." Was Dallen's reply.

Reno pushed the wire in between the frame and the window and deftly flipped the latch locking the other side. "Yes boss."

Swinging the window inwards on its hinges. Reno thankfully dropped inside and pulled out his flashlight. He didn't turn it on though in case the cameras in the hall picked it up, merely kept it handy. 

A major design fault was that most of the offices didn't have cameras. Workers privacy he supposed, much the same as some places in the Shinra building. Reno thought it was stupid. Such a simple thing as a camera watched by an attentive guard could put many a would-be thief out of business. That and many other things. Simple things, but effective. Reno wasn't about to pick them up on it though. Not when he was one of those thieves half the time. Though if Tseng had been nicer to him from the beginning he might have been nice in return and pointed out the weaknesses in Shinra's own security.  Well maybe that was a card he had yet to play. He might need it. He still wholeheartedly believed Tseng would kill him after the mission. Another reason he'd wanted a gun.

Crouching by the door and leaning up against the doorframe, Reno risked a peek out into the hall before quickly pulling his head back in. The camera between him and the room was beginning to swivel his way. Silently he began counting to ten. At ten he pushed himself up and away from the doorway and darted out into the hall. He counted to five as he crept along. At five he ducked into an open doorway across the hall. Stilling himself against the doorframe, he began to count to twelve. Then again, out into the hallway. Another ten seconds and he moved inside the door he was after.

"In." He announced quietly into the small microphone hidden on the inside of the collar of his shirt.

"Any problems?"

Reno crossed the room and bent crouched next to the singular dull metal gray filing cabinet behind a medium sized desk.

"I could have done that when I was twelve." He told them with a derisive snort.  He didn't much care if it sounded like he was showing off. It also happened to be true.

It took hardly any effort to unlock the flimsy lock on the filing cabinet. Clamping the pen light between his teeth, he turned it on and began rummaging around for the set of files Tseng wanted. The files had meant nothing to Reno when Tseng had told him about them. A pity, he had wanted to know what was so important about them.

He grinned as the thought hit him. Well, he mightn't understand the names, but he could at least take a peek at them before handing them over to Tseng. 

With five files under his arm, he closed the filing cabinet, and straightened up, bringing them over to the desk. He couldn't risk turning on a light, even with the door closed, so he had to read them by torch light. As near as he could tell they seemed to be nothing totally out of the ordinary. Holding papers for some private land near Junon and here in Midgar. He knew the locations of the three in Midgar, but he'd never been to Junon. He'd never been out of Midgar. He memorized the sites in Midgar anyway before tucking the files away in his black bag, turning off his torch and starting for the door.

The hallway was just as he left it. Dark and empty. A quick peek to see where the cameras were facing and he began his countdown to when he could safely move. There was no estimating involved. Tseng had made him memorize the type of cameras from how much they could view in an area to how long it took them to track around said area. All it meant from there was to deduct how much time it would take the camera to track around a place the size of the hallway. Kids stuff really, and something he didn't spend too much time dwelling on.

The countdown finished, and Reno moved down to the next doorway.

Another countdown and he moved back into the office he had entered. It was still dark in here too. But it was no longer empty.

The guard looked as surprised to see Reno as Reno to see him. For minutes they just stood there and stared at one another open-mouthed.

_The guard isn't supposed to leave his desk for another two hours!_

He wracked his brain for some detail he must have missed. Some scheduled round that he had forgotten about. Finally he could come up with nothing. He was sure he hadn't missed anything.

Reno wiped the shocked look off his face and forced his brain to work. There were ways around this. He certainly couldn't kill the guy with a knife. The guard must have been seventy years old for gods sakes! He'd killed before but it was something more out of necessity. He wasn't screwed yet, so at present it wasn't necessary. Dallen's notes forced their way into his brain.

Giving the man what he hoped to be a sheepish look and a warm smile he said; "Hiya Ernie. Didn't mean to startle you, just working a little late. You know how it is."

"Reno? What's happening?"

He ignored the voice in his ear and put all his concentration into looking pleasant and not like a robber. With luck, the guy was senile too.

Ernie went for his gun.

The smiled dripped off Reno's face. "I'll take that as a no then." And Reno ran. The guy had seen his face, and likely every camera in the hall had too as he sped down it toward where he knew the stairs lay. He could have forgone all that hassle by killing him then high-tailing it out the window. But he hadn't. He kept telling himself that it was because a knife wasn't a match for a gun, but it was really because the necessity still wasn't there. After tonight Reno would either be dead or back in the slums and it wouldn't matter.

He rammed his shoulder into the door that led onto the stairwell and began running down them four at a time. He wasn't worried about Ernie catching him or course, but he hadn't missed the radio secured on Ernie's belt either. And unlike Shinra, who took care of their own business, a small place like this probably relied on the MPD. And well, he'd managed to keep clear of the Midgar Police Department for a good few years now, he didn't want tonight to be the end of that streak. At least not now he was nineteen. 

Sometimes being an adult sucked.

He was half falling down the stairs and breathing hard by the time he reached the ground floor. A larger open space that led toward a set of thick wooden double doors that led out onto the street. Before he went for the doors he headed over to the vacant guards desk and disabled the alarms on the doors using the nine-digit code he remembered from the Turks notes. If Ernie hadn't called the police, Reno decided he'd rather not help draw attention to the place. Besides, the doors wouldn't open without the code anyway. 

Done, he set off at a jog for the doors. A moment of caution made him pull up short of opening them though. Could the police be out there already? If so, it would not help him to brazenly open the doors and step out onto the street. It would be far more prudent instead to try and sneak out somehow and get back to Dallen and Tseng. More prudent, but in some ways more stupid. If he were spotted he ran the risk of exposing the two Turks as well. And that was exactly what was /not/ supposed to happen. 

On second thought, if Dallen and Tseng were exposed, Reno might be able to get free of them at last. Tell the cops he was being made to do this because the Turks were forcing him to. Show the bracelet as evidence even.

Reno smiled slowly. The plan definitely had merits.

But Reno knew he wasn't going to do that either. Securing the bag's strap firmly over his back and chest, he flung open the doors and stepped out onto the damp street. It had stopped raining, but the road and pavement was still slick with water. He barely had time to register the sound of sirens before one car sped around the corner at the end of the block at started racing in his direction. 

With one glance at the building across the street, Reno turned and ran toward the opposite end of the block.

*

This was a familiar game. Running around the streets of Midgar with someone or several someones chasing you. And a game Reno had been very good at wining. But he hated playing it with the MPD. They had cars and radios and usually more men. While you ran the risk of death with terrorists and Turks, they were by far the saner choice. Less men, though more skilled, and usually on foot.

Reno had only just managed to duck down an alleyway before a dark blue and light blue car had almost careened off the dumpster at the mouth of it. He didn't stop there either, he kept running. Behind him he heard the slam of several car doors and a few irate yells, but Reno tried to ignore it as much as the voices filtering in through his ear. Dallen and Tseng weren't on the move yet, that much he had listened to. And he had no intention of telling them what was happening either. He preferred to be one his own. That way he knew what could be relied on and knew no one was going to foul up on him either.

But it also had one major drawback.

The bracelet.

The further he ran away from Dallen and Tseng. The greater his chances increased on him running into that invisible barrier of pain. He imagined a scenario that had him stuck between that barrier and the cops. Pain or capture. Well, he'd be captured regardless, and Tseng would lose the files. He'd never had such tight restrictions on his game before and it made it all the more harder to escape.

So instead of sticking to the streets and rooftops, he took a sharp left and into a building. Immediately a warm wave of air hit him in the face along with a few sweet smelling aromas. He almost stopped to smell it a little more. But the workers seemed suspicious enough of the black clothed man that had suddenly burst into their kitchen with wide eyes. He couldn't help his startled look though, he'd never seen so much nice looking food in his life. He noticed a name stamped on the side of a soup bowl as it drifted by him on a tray. 

'Marsterson'. An expensive hotel, he knew that much. But it shocked him to think how far away from Tseng and Dallen he'd gotten. If he didn't know better, he was sure this Hotel was farther away than a mile from where he left the two Turks.

Vaguely, behind him he could hear the shouts of the pursuing police men. He spotted a large double door at the end of the room and deftly began weaving his way toward it. Most of the workers just looked at him oddly. None tried to stop him. 

He pushed open the doors and stepped into a huge room filled with people. They stood in groups around large white table clothed tables in expensive looking clothes. There must have been hundreds of them. And they were all focused more or less at a man at the front of the room standing behind of a white gilded podium giving a speech. To someone like Reno, who had never seen a function room before, it was really quite scary. And it had nothing to do with the too blood like colored plush carpet or the insane amount of fake plants around the room either. The place fairly reeked of power and money. 

Never one to remain stunned for too long, Reno began skirting the room looking for an exit. He got perhaps halfway around the room when the double kitchen doors burst open and three dark blue suited cops filed into the room. Quickly, Reno headed away from the wall and tried to loose himself in the standing crowd. He knew he couldn't keep hiding like this though. Sooner or later these people would sit down, and he would be the only one left standing in his stark black clothing and bright red hair.

No sooner had the thought left his head that the crowd of people began clapping, and inevitably reseating themselves. 

Sometimes he hated being proved right. 

He was prepared to make a bolt for the door when something caught hold of his wrist, and pulled him to a stop. For a moment he thought one of the cops had snuck up on him, until he looked down at the owner of the hand and met a familiar pair of dark blue eyes.

"For a prisoner you sure do have free reign of the city."

It was Elena. Her tone seemed condescendingly serious, but there was an amused light in her eyes that gave her real mood away too easily. Under normal circumstances he'd have immediately smiled and put on his best charming bullshit manner. But under these circumstances, all he could manage was a half worried smile as his eyes darted nervously around the room. There was hardly anyone left standing now.

She must have seen his apprehension and she looked at him a little worriedly. "Is something…?" 

She must have seen the police scanning the room at the same time as he. And she noticed Reno's expression that followed. Quickly she pulled him down into a vacant chair beside her.

"Take off your bag. And pick up a glass. Randy, give me your jacket."

Reno stared at her dumfounded for a while before in sunk in about what she was actually doing. She knew he was in trouble. And she was helping him. Probably thought it was some exciting game being the rich kid that she was, but he sagely kept that opinion to himself.

The boy named Randy gave her a sullen expression but diligently handed her his dark blue jacket, which she promptly passed to Reno once he had his bag off and safely stashed under the table. The jacket was too big, but not overtly so. It would easily pass as his. He couldn't help the feeling that the cops were going to find him anyway, and that he looked like nothing more than a slum rat in a good jacket.

A different person was speaking at the podium now but all the people stayed seated at their tables, apparently listening attentively. The police, trying not to draw attention to themselves fanned out along the back wall and kept a sharp eye on all the tables. He picked up a wine glass off the table and pretended the pay attention. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Elena was not listening to the speaker, her eyes totally focused on him. The guy called Randy was as well, though a little less warmly.

"What?" He asked in a quiet whisper.

"You weren't lying the other day were you? You really are in some kind of trouble."

He winced at the loudness of her voice. Not loud actually, but enough for the few people around them to hear quite clearly. Randy's scowl deepened. The guy on the other side of Reno eyes widened slightly. It was at this point that he noticed that not one of those seated at the table around him seemed to be anything over thirty or so. Most didn't even appear to be much into their mid-twenties. At the table just in front of this one he spotted Mr. Rieden and a few older men. He suspected he was at the kiddies' table. 

Elena saw his nervous look and smiled slightly. "Relax. We won't say anything." She gestured over her shoulder to the guy sitting beside her, "This is Randolph Parker. His father is Head of the Shinra Airforce Base in Junon." He didn't offer his hand to Reno and Reno didn't push it. The guy was scowling at him so hard he imaged he was as likely to lose his hand rather than have it shaken. "This," She nodded to the guy sitting on the other side of Reno, "Is Reeve Evans. He's studying engineering at Junon College. His father is one of the most prominent builders in Junon."

Reeve did offer his hand with a slightly nervous smile. Probably due to what Elena had said about him earlier. For all Reeve knew he was shaking hands with a dangerous criminal. Well he was, anyway.

She turned he attention back to the other two guys and opened her mouth to introduce Reno. "This is R-"

"Rylie." Reno interrupted smoothly. "Rylie Anderson. My father is a prominent beer drinker, gambler and deadbeat in the Sector Three Slums." He grinned at them gamely and took another sip of the sweet wine. He had stolen the name from a guy he knew that used to visit his mother. Gods new how he remembered that, but it was the only name he could come up with that began with an 'r' on such sort notice. 

Elena raised a questioning eyebrow, but didn't bother to correct him. Randy's scowl deepened if anything. Reeve's expression was trapped somewhere between nervous and amused. He probably thought Reno had been joking.

The cops were still spread out around the room, searching with their eyes. There were less of them now. The rest had probably gone to check the rest of the building. As he watched, he spotted a familiar looking guy in a navy blue suit stalk over and start talking to one of the cops with an angry look on his face.

_Fuck!_

It was Arkette. If Arkette saw him it was over. 

_What the hell is Arkette doing here anyway?_

Reno forced himself to look properly at the speaker at the podium. A nicely built guy with short blond hair and fine expensive light colored clothes. Reno couldn't place his face.

"Who's that talking?" He asked Reeve since Elena seemed to have been pulled into a low conversation with Randy.

Reeve gave him a confused look. "That's Vice-President Rufus Shinra." He explained as if it were obvious. "The man that spoke before him was the President."

Reno shook his head slightly and tried not to laugh.

_Of all the places…_

Well it explained what Arkette was doing here and why his head didn't feel like it was on fire thanks to the bracelet. He couldn't stay here though. He wasn't sure how much Arkette might know about Tseng's plans for the Buildings Office. Reno was willing to assume that Arkette knew enough. If the cops told Arkette what was going on, and the Turk saw Reno, he was going to be in some very deep shit. Tseng had never told him outright, but he had the feeling that Arkette had been kept in the dark about tonight's little mission. Not to mention Reno's involvement in it.

"How long do these things go for?" Reno asked.

"Shouldn't be too much longer." Elena answered for Reeve, breaking away from her conversation with the sullen faced Randy. "But we could get you out of here now if you need to."

Reno thought about it. He could probably backtrack to where Tseng and Dallen were, but he found it difficult to believe that the two Turks would still be in their hiding place. As much as he hated to admit it, he would probably have to stay close to Arkette till he was able to escape. Still, staying in this room was hardly an option. He needed to stay close to Arkette, but not next to him.

"Out of this room?" He suggested. 

He hated to admit that he needed help from a pack of spoilt rich kids, but this was their lair really. And he knew he would have been caught in an instant had it not been for Elena.

"I could take you up to our rooms." She suggested after a moment of thought.

Randy made a disgusted snort, but Elena ignored him.

It was a good idea if she had a room here. He would still be in range of Arkette, but not in the same room. But he wouldn't be able to see the Turk though. Not a good option if he needed to follow the man. 

He was tempted enough to accept just to annoy Randy.

"All right."

Elena smiled slightly and stood motioning for the others to follow her. They did so only after a moment's hesitation. A few people around the room stood up at regular intervals to head for the bathrooms. A few, like themselves were heading toward the stairs. Elena walked ahead, back straight, long maroon dress swishing around her ankles with her quick strides. Randy and Reeve flanked him. The three of them made odd bodyguards, but he did notice that the assembled police paid little attention to them. Luckily for him, the cops hadn't gotten that great a look at him before. Arkette was still busy talking to one of them, his back to the four people heading toward the stairs.

At the foot of the massive stairwell, Elena stopped and turned back to the three of them. Her eyes were shining a little as if she were on some great adventure. 

"Stay here, I'll go check upstairs first."

Reno had been about to suggest that himself and it shocked him that she had even thought about it. He watched her climb the stairs with a newfound respect. Randy must have mistaken the look though.

"I don't know what gutter you crawled out of Anderson. But if you look at her like that again we'll have words."

Well, that was about as straightforward as Reno could expect. At least he now knew where Randy's immediate dislike for him sprang from.

He smiled amiably at the guy. "Promise to keep my eyes closed while I'm up in her room then." Reno promised.

He thought he heard a chuckle from Reeve that was quickly muffled. Randy's face went a bright crimson. "Just stay away from her!"

Reno let the smile fall from his face as he took once step closer to Randy. "Or you'll what?"

Randy opened his mouth to reply, but thinking better of it, simply spun on his heel and stormed off back into the room.

"He's a nice enough guy half the time." He heard Reeve say behind him. "His temper gets the better of him though. You really ought to not kid with him like that."

Reno looked back at Reeve. "I was that obvious? That I was kidding I mean."

"Probably not to him." Reeve smiled.

Elena came back down the stairs enough for them to hear her. "It's clear."

Reno nodded and started up, but Reeve shook his head. "I better get back to playing the dutiful son." He turned to Reno and held out his hand once more. "You've definitely made a potentially boring night much more interesting though Mr. Anderson. It was nice to meet you."

Reno shook his hand again. While he didn't like the idea that he had been mere entertainment to these people, he could tell the guy's intentions were well enough. "And you. Reeve." But he wasn't about to scrape to calling him 'mister' either.  Reno was just glad he's been able to remember the guy's name. He doubted he would tomorrow.

Reeve nodded to both of them and began a brisk walk back in the direction Randy had gone. Elena grabbed his hand and began pulling him up the stairs.

*

"Nice." Reno commented, standing by the door, hands in pockets. It was a stance he'd gotten used to falling into around such rich dwellings. Visiting various well to do informants of Rankins. It seemed that rich people always felt more comfortable so long as he, the slum boy, kept his hands in his pockets and therefore away from anything valuable. 

"Thank you. /Rylie/." She said emphasizing his new name and setting down her purse on the table at the far end of the room. "Is Rylie your real name? Or is it Reno? Or tomorrow will it be something different?"

He couldn't understand why she sounded so irritated. It was just a name. And so what if he'd lied to her friends. So what if he'd lied to her? It wasn't as if she were  his closest and most trusted friend.

"Depends on my mood." He told her and smirked.

Folding her arms she stood up straighter and fairly glared at him. He had no idea what he could have done to provoke this sudden change in her mood. "Are you usually this rude toward someone who just saved your life?" She asked complacently.

"Hardly my life," He told her still grinning, "And I'm not doing it on purpose. I treat everyone this way regardless."

"A little ungrateful, don't you think?"

"Not on purpose. Just part of my charming personality."

She made a slightly irritated sound and moved her arms down by her sides in an obvious effort to look calm. It might have worked had she not been still glaring or her fists weren't clenched. "So what should I call you?"

Reno almost burst out laughing. A comeback to that would have been too simple and it took all his will to keep his face more or less neutral. "Reno is fine."

Crossing the room, Reno went over to the large glass windows and took a look at the view. Perfect. It showed the front entrance to the hotel almost directly below.

          "Do I get to know what you have done tonight to have to police chasing you?"

          Setting his back to the window, he leant against the glass. "I reckon I was naughty."

          "That wasn't an answer." She told him.

          "I guess it wasn't." He agreed.

          She pursed her lips in an irritated expression. Clearly his behavior was getting on her nerves. 

          "I would like to know exactly what I was an accomplice to," she began angrily, "I mean if have…"

          Reno waved her argument off and shook his head.  "You don't really want to know. Ask me what you really want to ask me. You didn't drag me up here to find out how mischievous I've been. Go on. Ask me the real question."

          Elena gaped at him for a few moments. Evidently he'd hit the nail on the head. He hadn't been sure he was right till now. Elena didn't seem to be a woman who was hard to read. Her emotions, almost everything she was thinking always seemed to be written across her face. Although to Reno it could just seem that way after spending the last few days with the stone faced Turks. Which is why he hadn't been totally sure.

          Elena took a deep breath and asked quietly. "The other day. Why did you kiss me?"

          Reno's grin grew wider. He boosted himself off the window and began a slow walk toward the woman standing uncomfortably by the table, hands clasped tightly in front of her.

          He could have told her that his head felt like it was about to explode and he wasn't thinking right. Or he could her that he thought he was going to be shot in less than a week and it seemed like a good idea. Or he could tell her the truth. That she was pretty enough, it was the first time in over a week where he had been able to even get near a woman and he felt like being playful. Any response like that would see him with a red hand print across his face and his ass out in the hallway. 

          "Why?" He got close enough and then began to walk around her, eyes glued to her. If he wasn't allowed to be rude, he might as well make her uncomfortable and have at least /some/ fun. After all, there was no use giving over too much flattery. Reno wasn't stupid, he knew it wasn't going any farther. Not with a girl like Elena. "I've never kissed a girl from high society." So it wasn't a lie either. But at least it wasn't too offensive.

          Elena turned to look at him where he was at that time, behind her. "You did it because my family is a little well off? What? Did you think I would taste like cotton candy and smell like roses?" She asked bemused.

          "Something like that."

          "Sorry to shatter your dreams Mr. Anderson. I'm no different from any other girl."

          So it was 'Mr' now, was it?

          Reno gave her a half smile before turning to go back to his post by the window. "Oh, I didn't say /that/."

          Elena's mouth worked for a while before she managed to get a word out. "What?"

          Reno reached the window and looked down. People were starting to file out of the front doors in a steady stream. The conference must be over. He watched for a few more moments before he noticed Arkette standing with Gafford while the President and his son talked with a couple near a jet black limousine. He hadn't expected them to be leaving so soon afterwards. Didn't rich people like to dawdle or mingle or something else just as inane?

          "Fuck me." Reno swore.

          "Excuse me?" Elena asked from behind him with a little alarm.

          "Does this window open?"

          Elena's face began to return to a normal color when she realized Reno's comment hadn't been directed at her and nodded. "Here." She crossed to the side of the window, flipped a latch and pushed the window outwards.

          Reno poked his head out and scanned the wall. Not three feet from him was the fire escape. There was a landing for it just below him in fact.  At least it wasn't another drainpipe. Climbing up onto the window sill, he crouched down and began lowering himself down on the outside. 

          "What are you doing?" Elena asked worriedly. "There /are/ stairs you know."

          "This is quicker." He responded, straining slightly keeping his arms locked so he could stay where he was to hear what she was saying.

          "You're insane." She told him, a little more of her earlier mood coming back to her. At least she looked a little more amused now.

          "I know." He agreed. "Thanks for your help tonight."

          "Aiding and abetting a felon. I'm the more insane I think."

          His arms were really beginning to hurt. It seemed that he was always in pain when he was about to part ways with Elena. And he told her so.

          She actually laughed lightly. "I seem to recall that last time you had more of a reward though."

          Reno opened his mouth to respond but Elena cut him off. "Don't push you luck."

          "You may not have noticed this about me, but I'm not one to listen to warnings very often. If it's alright, I'd really prefer to push my luck."

          Elena smiled and leaned forward. "Goodnight Mr. Anderson."

          "Sweet dreams Miss Rieden."

          She kissed him lightly on his forehead and gave him a smug look. Well, it looked as though that was the best he was going to get. Thankfully he pushed himself away from the window and let go of the sill. Elena gasped as he dropped out of sight and leaned out of the window just in time to see him land on the fire escape. He waved once then started to climb down the ladder.

***

          "Reno! Damnit answer me!"

          Dallen could hear Tseng through his own earpiece and stopped where he was, scanning the street.

          "He must be out of range." Dallen told Tseng, wiping the rain from his eyes. "He would have answered."

          "If he's out of range of the radio," Tseng answered steadily, "He's out of the restrictions of the bracelet. That means he would be dead."

          "Or the cops got him. Either way we're screwed. Should I keep searching?"

          "No. If he's got any brains he'll head back to headquarters if he's still alive. We'll meet up back there."

***

          "I need to get to a meeting." Arkette told Gafford in low tones. "Stay with the President and see him safely home. I'll see you tomorrow."

          Gafford nodded and didn't ask any questions. There was no need to. Arkette had already explained all this to his partner before the conference. And there was no way Arkette was going to miss this particular appointment. Not even for bodyguard duty for the President. Especially not after talking to those cops before. Something had gone wrong and Arkette wanted to find out what.

          Turning away from the group huddled in front of the lobby doors to the hotel, he started down the went pavement toward the lower portion of this sector. What he was looking for was a non-descript gray building that used to be an old apartment building. Since then it had been gutted in order to renovate it. The work crews had long since gone home for the day leaving the site empty. It took Arkette a good twenty minutes to walk all the way here, but it was the perfect place for such a meeting really. Neutral ground where two parties could meet to discuss certain things in relative private. He navigated his way around various machinery, bags of cement and piles of wood till he reached the center of the ground floor inside the building. They were already waiting for him.

          "You told us they were sending a talentless nobody in to do the job." A middle aged, graying man accused him before he even stopped walking.

          Arkette put on his most patient expression (which wasn't very patient) and told the man and his lone associate; "You failed I take it. I warned you and you didn't heed my warnings. I don't see how you can blame me for this."

          "We warned the guard on duty. But the perpetrator still got away with the files."

          A muscle in Arkette's cheek twitched, but he managed to keep his cool composure. "You warned the on duty guard? I told you to have reinforcements handy."

          "You also told us that this kid they were using wasn't worth spit. That he'd be easy to catch. And that the other Turks would be involved. The guard didn't see no Turks." Another man informed him. This one was slightly younger, with an apprehensive look in his eyes.

          "I'd say you were wrong Turk. You shouldn't have lied to us." The first man warned.

          Arkette had basically had enough by this point. These men obviously thought he was some kind of halfwit. Tseng had thought him stupid. That was Tseng's mistake. He wasn't stupid. Did Tseng think he would have failed to notice him and his little pet on a leash? Nobody could hide anything in the Shinra Building. Not even a Turk. At least not from him. The training, everything, had told Arkette that Tseng intended to use the boy. And the most obvious had been for a job all Turks had been ordered not to do. Or at least not to get caught doing. There wasn't a more assured way to not get caught if you got someone else to do it.  And if Tseng turned up in Heidigar's office with those files it was very likely going to be the thing to tip the favor Tseng's way for the leadership. But if Tseng got caught in the process of getting those files… Well that would be a major strike against him. Any strikes against Tseng were good for Arkette. All of Arkette's careful planning seemed to have been for nothing though. These assholes had fucked it up because they hadn't listened to him properly.

          Arkette unholstered his weapon from the shoulder holster underneath his jacket and brought it up to fire in one fluid motion. The older man's right leg went out from beneath him from the bullet wound in his thigh. "Do not accuse me of lying. I did not lie to you. I told you the precautions to take and you disregarded them. You failed, not me." Arkette fired a second shot at the same man. Abruptly the cries of agony from that man were cut off. He turned to face the wide eyes of the younger man. "We'll go to the second plan. Or are you still having second thoughts about it?"

          Hurriedly, the man shook his head. 

          "Good." Arkette smiled cruelly. "See to it. I will see you in two nights from now." The man turned to go, obviously keeping his eyes away from the body of the downed man. Arkette's voice stopped him before he could go much farther. "And don't think about running. You won't get far. Do you think I am lying now?"

          With his back turned, the man shook his head before continuing onwards and disappearing out a side door.

*

          Reno frowned. 

          This, he had not been expecting. 

He wasn't sure if it was luck or not that put him in this gutted building crouching behind a mound of piled cement bags. Luckily for Dallen and Tseng that someone had heard it. Perhaps unlucky that it had been Reno. He could tell them both and get extra brownie points. Or he could simply not tell them and hope Arkette killed them therefore freeing Reno of the devious pair. 

          Decisions. Decisions.

          At least he knew now why Ernie had decided to make an unscheduled circuit of the building. 

          Reno peeked over the edge of the bags to see Arkette heading back toward the exit. Reno waited till the man had disappeared before getting up to follow. 

          Whatever he decided, it would depend on him actually having the time to decide. If Tseng and Dallen killed him now, Reno figured (with a certain amount of smugness) that they in turn would be just as screwed as he. If they didn't kill him…well, time would tell what exactly he decided to tell them. 

***

**_Important Note: If you are reading this as a prequel to my 'monsters' series, just pretend that Reno and Reeve promptly forgot about each other before they met again or something just as easy to cover up a plot hole. I had agonized over putting Reeve into this at all, and finally decided 'what the fuck' and did it anyway. One more important thing; people have commented on my using same last names for characters despite differing series'. Let me clear this up now. Once I make up a last name for someone, I stick with it no matter what. Doesn't mean there is any link between series'. For example; Reeve Evans is Reeve Evans in any series I've needed to provide a last name for him. It's just the way it happens, I didn't mean to confuse people. _**

**_"I Must Be Insane" is not a set prequel to any series. But you can read it to just about any of them you wish._**

_Notes: Devious little bastard isn't he? *giggles* I love the little bastard I can't help it. Well, well, well did I actually put plot in there? As some of you may know by now, stick with my stories long enough and I'll add more inevitably. All you need is patience. The plot thickens indeed. _

_So stay tuned _

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All my stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Where all good bastards should visits._


	7. The Offer

I Must Be Insane

By AF

**Chapter 7**

**The Offer.**

          Reno plodded into the foyer of the Shinra building and up to the front desk where he promptly lay his arms and head across the top of the almost chest high desk. The remnants of rainwater and an assortment of grime dripping off him like liquid onto the top of the desk. The woman behind the desk didn't look impressed.  In fact she looked a little frightened.

          "Is-is t-there s-something I can d-do for you?"

          Reno didn't raise his head to answer, just mumbled his reply into the top of the smooth black desk.

          "S-sorry I didn't quite c-catch that."

          "I said," Reno told her in a slow clear voice, finally raising his head, "You can ring upstairs to the Turks office and tell a man named Tseng that he left his underwear at my place last night if he'd like to come down and collect it."

          The woman's eyes went wide and she stared at Reno opened mouthed for a few minutes before picking up a phone. "Name?"

          Reno would've grinned if he hadn't felt so weary and wretched. "He'll know me by the name 'Peaches'."

          Now she looked /very/ taken back. But she did as requested. Talking into the phone she said, "Ah, Mr. Tseng? There's a man down in the lobby for you. Says he has…something of yours." A few moments then, "Peaches." She nodded, still slightly flustered as she put the phone down. To Reno she said, "He'll be down in a few moments."

*

          "I expected those files and you would be lying in a ditch somewhere. Or a morgue."

          Despite various aches and complaints, Reno matched the older man stride for stride as they walked from the elevator banks toward the gym.

          "I'm happy to see you alive too Tseng," Reno replied rolling his eyes.

          "So what /did/ happen?" 

          They reached the gym and Tseng held the door open for Reno to proceed him into the room. He did so answering, "After I left yous two I went for a bit of an adventure. Gate crashed a function at the Marsterson, met a pretty blond, went upstairs to her hotel room…"

          "Seriously. That hotel is over a mile away from where you started." Tseng interrupted. 

          He led them across the floor to the locker room at the back and the inevitable shower Tseng would make him take. He was glad at the prospect really. He didn't like smelling like a Midgar bum anymore than he imagined Tseng liked smelling it himself. 

          "I was being serious. Only difference being that the function I crashed was a Shinra gig and Arkette and Gafford were there to avoid my head exploding. What is the bracelet meant to react to anyway? You're security cards?"

          Tseng ignored the last few questions. He seemed a little more anxious about Arkette and Gafford. "They saw you?"

          "I didn't say that." Reno corrected reaching the shower room and beginning to pull his shirt up over his head. "All I said is that they were there. Arkette unwittingly became my chaperone for the night. I'm not stupid. I'm just as unhappy with the idea of them seeing me as you are. Unfortunately Arkette went back to his apartment pretty soon after, leaving my ass out on the street in front of his apartment building for the night. You know, for someone who obviously makes a lot of money, he sure does live in a seedy area. I spent most of the night protecting your precious files from the rain and assholes who thought my bag might be worth stealing. Only lucky thing was that Arkette seems to like public transport or I /would've/ ended up in a morgue."

          Tseng leant against the tiled wall and gave the opposite wall a thoughtful look. "You mean to tell me you tracked a Turk around the city for part of the night and into work the next morning without him seeing you once?"

          "Actually I ditched him about a quarter of a mile down the road this morning when he stopped for coffee. I was close enough, I didn't need to hang around him. But yeah. Why? What's the big deal?" He asked finishing up with his clothes and dumping them straight into a handy trash can. As nice as they had been, he figured there was no power on earth that was going to get the smell of Midgar brand dumpster/gutter slime off them to be wearable again. Hopefully he could borrow some more clothes later. Even walking around naked was better than that stench.

          "What the big deal? Reno the man is a trained professional."

The man was also a deranged psychopath. He hadn't spent the /entire/ night on the street in front of Arkette's building. He had lied about the man going home from the function. After Arkette's 'meeting' with those guys in the abandoned building he had apparently felt the need of some tension relief. The Plates had their own versions of what was in the slums only usually with a richer and more tasteful feel. It still hadn't disguised the type of building Arkette had walked into. A brothel. But hey, you couldn't fault the man for that. Reno wasn't above visiting them himself after the occasional prosperous week. It was the muffled scream an hour or so later he'd thought he'd only imagined before Arkette had walked out looking immensely satisfied. A couple of the woman had trailed out after, watching the Turks back as he walked away. Reno had taken the chance to go and talk to them before Arkette totally disappeared. 

          "Don't tell anyone," A very young dark haired girl had told him in quiet but angry tones, "but he's a little rough with the girls. Likes to see us in pain I think. You get the occasional one like that, but he's much worse." Here she'd shrugged her thin shoulders in a dismissive gesture, "Not like any of us can do anything about it of course. He pays well and he's a Turk. Can't never say no to a guy like that. Poor Mel though, won't probably get any work for a week or two now."

          Reno had felt like offering to kill him, but his figured his quota of killing Turks was probably up for this lifetime. And besides, no matter how angry that girl had seemed now, she might just see his money was worth a bit of pain. Not all of them were likely to see it that way of course. But a few would, and wouldn't be thankful to him. 

          Reno went over to stand beneath one of the many showerheads and twisted it on. He'd never thought a shower could feel this nice.

          "You forget, what I've been doing for the last few years," He reminded. "You'd probably be shocked to know I've trailed you around for an hour or so before." Tseng looked dubious. "You sure do pick the pretty ones. Though a little young. Brown hair, green eyes." At that, Tseng gave him an accusing stare, "Relax, I wasn't on the clock. You were in the slums, I was curious."

          Tseng opened his mouth to say more, but Dallen appeared and walked up to stand beside Tseng. Reno was starting to think this was some kind of freak show or something.

          "What do you want?" He asked Dallen irritably.

          "Not to stare at your beautiful ass all day Peaches that's for certain." To Tseng he said, "President wants to see us." A small glance in Reno's direction before, "Both of us. Now."

          "Oh dear," Reno remarked. "Whoever will watch your little pet while your gone?"

          "We could always chain him to the showerhead." Dallen offered to Tseng with a smirk. 

          "I think you'd like that too much Dallen," Reno returned. 

          "Not me you'd have to worry about Peaches. That'd be the twenty or so Soldier recruits that should be coming up here in about thirty minutes when their training ends that you'll have to worry about."

          "Both of you, cut it out. I'd let him do what he wants within the bracelet restrictions if Arkette weren't on his way in to the office."

          "We could bung him in his cell." Dallen offered.

          "Now wait a minute," Reno began shutting off the shower, "I shouldn't even have to wear it anymore. I did your job, brought back your precious files and almost got my ass kicked several times for the trouble. You either shoot me or let me loose."

          Dallen only spared him a few moments before turning completely back to Tseng, "I definitely suggest gagging him whatever we do."

3mins Later

          "Dallen you fucking asshole! Come back here! Tseng! Damnit! LET ME GO!"

          It was no good, they had probably left by now and were on their way up to the President's Office. Reno looked at the handcuffs looped around the faucet around head height, securing his wrists and swore again loudly. He hadn't really believed they'd do it. Leave him chained naked to a showerhead in a communal shower room. It was unfair. It was unethical. And it was slightly sick. 

          He really shouldn't have been that surprised in other words. He just hoped Dallen had been joking about the Soldiers. 

          He stood there for a good ten minutes in silence before he heard a door open in the locker room and a few striding footfalls on the tiled floor. By this time he'd been standing dripping went, naked in an air-conditioned building for longer than comfort and had begun to shiver. He must have looked like someone left out on an ice bank for a night when someone finally did step into the room. A fairly tallish someone immaculately dressed in cream and white. The clothing looked finely made but the man wore it as casually as someone wore their sweats and somehow still looked neat. He came to a halt when he saw Reno, blew a few rampant strands of golden hair out of his intense light blue eyes and folded his arms across his chest. Reno wondered why the man didn't look surprised. He was acting as though finding someone chained to a shower faucet was a regular thing in this building or something.

          Reno frowned. Why did that guy look so familiar?

          "You Reno?"

          Reno nodded not wanting to open his mouth afraid that his teeth might start to chatter.

          The man sighed heavily, and began walking toward Reno digging something out of the pocket of his coat along the way. "I thought Dallen had been joking." He finally dug out a small silver key and began on unlock the cuffs from around Reno's wrists. "I think I need to talk to those two about their work ethic."

          When his hands were free Reno rubbed them drawing the man's eye to the black metal bracelet. He looked at it, but didn't comment.

          He casually looked Reno over for a moment. "You look about my size. Follow me, I'll find you some clothes."

          Rubbing his arms Reno scowled. "I /used/ to be bigger. I feel like I've been trapped in a meat locker."

          The man arched one eyebrow disbelievingly before turning and walking back toward the locker room.

          In the locker room, the man opened a locker near the center of the room and began to rummage round while Reno stood by and tried not to shiver. He didn't know why the man should look so familiar to him. Reno had sure never met him before. In fact the man looked like an executive more than anything and he didn't look like one of those much either. He wasn't dressed in the seemingly patented dark suit and horrid colored tie. He also moved like a Turk. Carefully, but purposely, and utterly unafraid of anything.

          Eventually the man turned back to him and handed him a pair of jeans and a simple white undershirt shrugging, "The best I can do I'm afraid." Yeah well, his simple best probably cost more than the entire stash Reno had hidden under his bed. Being up on the Plates sure gave a man perspective, though Reno would have been happier not knowing. 

          He struggled into the clothes while the man shut the locker and went over to the door apparently waiting for him to finish up.

          "Where are we going?" Reno demanded. It wasn't that he disliked the man, he simply just didn't like not knowing. So far the guy had seemed amiable, but five minutes was hardly anything solid to go by. From what he had gathered, Dallen had sent the man to come collect Reno after making him sweat for a little while in what Dallen probably thought was a great joke. If this man was someone Dallen could order round or ask favors of, he must be below them in the food chain. A recruit? Maybe, he certainly acted enough like a Turk. But Reno dismissed the notion. This guy was rich, educated. And he didn't act like anyone's underling. 

          "Tseng wants you fed." He replied in rather bored tone. The tone might have even fooled Reno had he not been paying attention to the assessing look in the man's eyes. He had the distinct impression that he was as curious about Reno as Reno was about him.

          "You take orders from Tseng?" Reno probed trying to act casually as well as he trailed the man out of the room and across the gym floor.

          "No. I do favors for Tseng. I take alcohol off him in the bar after work for the favors."

          Reno didn't doubt it for truth. So he was either on par with Tseng in the great Shinra hierarchy, or above. Perhaps a board member?

          The man slowed his steps to drop back down next to Reno and gestured at the metallic black bracelet, the first time he'd openly noticed the thing.

          "So what's that thing set on? Can you make it to the cafeteria or will I be picking pieces of your brain off my suit before we get that far."

          So he knew about the bracelet as well. Probably head of Weapons or something. He'd heard Shinra had a Department like that. Though gods new why Shinra needed a weapons department. Weren't they a power company? Vaguely he remembered hearing about a war with Wutai, wherever that was, but news like that rarely filtered down into the slums if Shinra didn't want it to.

          "A mile. Least it was this morning."

          "Knowing Dallen he's changed it." The man stopped at the elevator and tapped his lip thoughtfully with a slender forefinger. "You may have to settle with vending machine food. I'll take you to the Turks lounge. Arkette and Gafford have a mission directly after the meeting so they shouldn't see you."

          Okay, so this guy knew…a lot.  Who the hell /was/ he?

          The Turks Lounge was interesting. Reno hadn't known it had even existed. A couple of sofa's, some books, a vending machine, a drinks cabinet as well as a few other assorted personal items. A lava lamp sat on a small table near the lounge. A small coffee table. Some assorted magazines. A few posters and pictures. A stereo system. And weirdly enough a guitar. It looked almost like a teenagers bedroom. Reno immediately felt at home. As he went over to the drinks cabinet though, the man stopped him. 

          "I think you're a little young for that."

          "Young?" Reno asked in a bemused tone. "I don't know what your legal drinking age is here, but where I come from, you're old enough to drink when you can see over the top of the bar. Besides, you can't be much older than me."

          A slight upturn of his lips, then, "Try a little more than a decade."

          Reno couldn't hide his surprise. This guy was pushing thirty? But that was…old. Reno might have a jaded view of his own age at times, but this was ridiculous. He looked, at the very maximum, mid-twenties. This guy was just full of surprises. 

          Eventually he ignored the guy and went to pour himself a shot of whiskey. He didn't hear any more complaints. Only a request of 'would he mind pouring two'. He had the feeling that the guy hadn't actually had much real worry over him drinking, and it was more for the fun of reminding him that he wasn't allowed to. Whatever it was, they weren't alone together very long before the door opened and a solemn looking Turk came into the room followed by an ecstatic looking Dallen. He wasn't sure if that meant the meeting had gone well or not.

          "Good news?" The blond man asked tentatively, watching Tseng lean against the wall next to the single window.

          "You might say amazing fucking news Rufus. Utterly fucking amazing!" Dallen answered for him. He strode over to where Reno was standing by the bar and offered him a hearty slap that almost spilt Reno's drink. "Pour me one of those Peaches. And then get another for yourself. You deserve it. And you're going to need it after this."

          Reno was in the middle of telling Dallen to go fuck himself when he stopped, clamped his mouth closed and turned his eyes back to the blond man lounging against the back of the sofa just opposite him.

          _Did he call him…?_

Reno looked at the man closely before deciding, yes, he had called him Rufus.

          "Rufus Shinra. Vice-President of Shin-ra Inc?" 

          "Don't tell me you didn't introduce yourself." Dallen began. "He does that," he told Reno, "he likes being dramatic and mysterious."

          Reno ignored him and waited patiently for the reply from Rufus. 

          "Yes, that's right."

          Reno nodded and took another sip of his drink. 

It was and easy thing to turn, reach into Dallen's open jacket and snag the handgun out of its holster. He was quick too. Not even Dallen had been able to make a move to stop him before Reno had the gun out and pointed directly at Rufus' head. No expression showed on his face. Though Rufus was looking slightly wide-eyed. But it was shock rather than fear. 

          Dallen went to move but was waved away by Tseng who was watching from across the room with a thoughtful expression.

          Most casually Reno asked, "Do you know how many people would call me a hero for pulling the trigger right now?"

          "I'd imagine quite a few." Rufus replied evenly. 

          Reno cocked his head slightly to the side and peered at Rufus past the gun. Thinking. Deciding. Finally he shrugged and lowered his gun arm, handing the weapon back to a very relieved Dallen.

          "I don't buy into all that hero bullshit anyway. And it doesn't pay that well. Besides, I get the feeling shooting you wouldn't make a lick of difference. Shinra would still be here in the morning."

          He could swear Tseng was almost smiling. Luckily Rufus couldn't see him.

          "Good to see I'm still popular in the slums." Rufus commented again in that bored, slightly amused tone. He did finish his drink quickly though.

          "Anyway," Dallen began, hurrying to fill in the following silence, "I have good news. With that information you got us, it seems that was just enough to tip the balance. Tseng's going to be promoted."

          If he expected some sort of happy emotion off Reno, he was disappointed. Actually Tseng becoming leader was bad news as far as the rebel group was concerned. A leader of the Turks who was finally competent enough for the title. Rankin was going to shit eggs. Still, Reno was at least a little relieved. It was better than Arkette. At least on a personal level. 

          Rufus didn't actually look all that thrilled himself. "What do you mean the files that he," a gestured towards Reno, "got for you. You sent this boy on that mission for you?"

          "He was good enough for the job." Dallen informed him. "/We/ weren't allowed to go."

          Reno felt he should have said something, but instead he ended up keeping his mouth closed and wandered over to where Tseng was leaning against the wall, staring at the carpet, a pensive look on his face.

          "I would've thought you'd be happier," Reno told him. 

          "You'll know soon enough why not." Tseng told him not raising his eyes. "Know that I never meant for it to come about this way."

          And Dallen accused /Rufus/ of being dramatic and mysterious.

"But," He could still hear Rufus and Dallen arguing over the other side of the room. They were being loud enough. It was almost as though Dallen were talking to an equal. Curious, he wouldn't have thought the mighty Rufus Shinra would have stood up for that. "Don't you realize the types of sensitive information involved in this? If it got out that this boy was a slum rat, a rebel group slum rat, the President would have had you both tossed into the Number One Reactor!"

          "Yeah, well, he did find out. That's why we were called up there. Arkette found out."

          "What?" Rufus asked deathly quiet.

          "What?" Reno repeated turning back to the other conversation.

          "Arkette told him everything last night apparently. That we were using a kid from a rebel faction to recover sensitive files. The old man went ballistic at first. Till we told him about the files of course. And the whole deal concerning Reno. After that he berated Arkette for not having all the facts and congratulated Tseng on his good thinking. Tseng'll be promoted in a week or so."

          "What deal concerning Reno?" Rufus asked. Reno had been a split second off asking that himself. He was starting to get a very bad feeling about this.

          Dallen met Tseng's eyes for a moment before Tseng nodded slightly as if giving him permission to continue. From then on in, Tseng kept his eyes on Reno.

          "That we actually were just using one of our own men. The President thought it was ingenious to use a future Turk. One who wasn't known as a Turk yet."

          Reno's mouth fairly dropped open. Rufus though, still looked a little confused. "Future Turk?"

          Dallen nodded. "Tseng's going to sponsor him."

          Reno clamped his mouth shut. Rufus though smiled in a bemused way and shook his head. "The both of you are insane. Tseng especially. But the both of you all the same." He didn't notice Reno's look. Probably didn't realize that this was the first time Reno was hearing about it too.

          Reno hadn't failed to see the total lack of 'if he wants to be' in any part of the conversation. It was 'will be'. They had told the President of Shinra Inc that he would be. They had told the Vice-President. They had told the rest of the Turks. 

_Why the /fuck/ didn't they ask /me/?_

With a face of stone, Reno turned back round to Tseng and held out the arm with the bracelet on it. "Take it off."

They weren't going to kill him. They hadn't been worried about everything they were telling him because they were going to make him into one of them.

Tseng just looked at him.

"Take it off. Or I start walking home with it still on and you can clear my blood off the sidewalk out front. I don't care."

"Oh c'mon. So we didn't have a chance to tell you," Dallen shrugged, "It's a better opportunity than you would have had living down there."

But Reno was watching Tseng. "I control my life. Not you." He didn't ask again. He simply started walking toward the door.

After he was gone from sight for a few minutes Dallen whistled and said, "Arrogant, stubborn and uncaring of his own well being. He would have made a brilliant Turk."

"Shouldn't you guys go after him?" Rufus asked Tseng.

At a nod from Tseng, the two Turks started for the hall. When they got there, they found in deserted.

"Okay, I give in. Where'd he go? It wouldn't have taken him this short a time to walk to the elevators."

Tseng frowned and reached for his PHS, dialing security. Security wouldn't be able to stop Reno if Reno wanted out of the building, they'd learnt that lesson. But they could at least find him on the thousands of security cameras spread throughout the building. 

Tseng listened for a few moments before he took off at a sprint for the elevator. Dallen was so startled that it took Tseng having to slow down slightly for the man to catch up to him at last. Tseng led them past the elevator and through to the stairwell.

"What'd going on?" Dallen asked as they started going down the stairs in a mad rush.

"You were right, he wasn't out of our sight long enough to walk to the elevator bank. Because he wasn't /walking/. He left the room in a sprint. And took the express elevator that was still on this floor after we used it. You shortened the leash to a hundred meters. He's already collapsed in the lobby."

"Fuck! The effects fed by the bracelet will stop after five minutes, if we get in range quick enough, but I reckon he hit the barrier in the elevator so he'll probably still feel it till we're practically on top on him. If he made it to the lobby, he's already in intense pain. Especially if he pushes it."

"Which he will." Tseng finished. Under his breath he added, "Damnit Reno, I told you that I didn't mean for it to come about this way."

*

He'd already begun to feel the pain in the elevator but he concentrated on ignoring it. It was working to some small degree. He wasn't sure why he was doing this. Did he just want to show them that he wouldn't be pushed around? If so, why had he run? Why had he made it so they'd have a damn near impossible time catching up to him?        

Reno didn't want to be a Turk. He didn't want to be these people that sat up in their high rises and laughed at the little people down below as they waged war with each other. 

For that matter he didn't much fancy the idea of being one of those little people his entire life either. Tseng had been right. Reno didn't want to die like a nameless slum rat. He did see the draw in being known and making something of himself. But he wanted the freedom to choose as well. And being a Turk was not something he would choose. He'd grew up around people hating Shinra. It was hard to break free of such conditioning. But he wasn't exactly in love with the terrorist groups either that more often than not hurt their own people as much as they did those they opposed. 

Still, he wasn't in the mood for an ethical debate. What it came down was that they were pushing him into something he didn't choose with people that would have killed him had they not found a use for him.

Sounded a lot like his life so far. His family, his previous jobs, his job now with Rankin. Though he liked to think the last two were more his choices than they really had been.

Soon the pain grew too intense for him to try to ignore. He could feel the blood pounding in his head, thought he could hear the rush in his ears. He staggered against the cool glass wall of the elevator and tired to calm his breathing. But his breath was coming out in ragged gasps now. He was begining to hyperventilate, and he couldn't draw enough air into his lungs. White spots floated on his vision. His legs felt like jelly, but he forced himself to stay upright and clutched his head in agony. The elevator seemed way too small, too confining.

There were better ways to go than this, surely.

The elevator doors opened with a soft 'ding' that felt like it would split his head open. He grit his teeth and staggered out into the lobby. He made it five wobbly steps before his legs gave out and he fell forward.

But he wouldn't give up.

He crawled maybe only a few inches before that white hot knife crawling up his arm reached his head and he cried out and began convulsing. 

"Holy fucking hell." That was Dallen when they raced down the stairs to spot Reno laying on the floor only a few paces from the elevator.

A small crowd stood watching the spectacle, but none went terribly near him.

Tseng skidded to a stop beside him and got to his knees. Reno was on his side, curled up into a ball with his arms wrapped around his head. His body spasmed with the pain.

"Why hasn't it stopped? We're right next to him!"

Dallen fell to his knees on the other side of Reno and tried to get near the bracelet. "He's been down for too long. It's frying his brain."

"Get it off him."

"I'm trying." Dallen managed the wrench the proper arm away from Reno's head. A hard task. All of Reno's muscles were knotted and tensed. "Keep him still."

Tseng tried to keep the writhing man still while Dallen attempted to input the code and key to unlock the bracelet. They had initially fit him with the hardest type to open taking into account his thieving and lock picking skills. But right now, the extra precaution wasn't doing them any favors. 

With the arm out of the way, Tseng could see a small trickle of blood from his nose. The arm with the bracelet on it was purple and red on the underside from burst capillaries. 

"Leviathan." Tseng breathed. "Look at his arm."

"I know."

"Get it off him now!"

"Damnit I'm trying!"

A second more of fiddling saw the bracelet unlock and open on a hidden hinge and it clattered to the ground by Reno's head. Reno himself stopped thrashing immediately. 

In fact, he didn't move at all.

***

_Notes: Oooooooo. And now ladies and gentlemen, you see how my bracelet works. I think most figured out that I would use its full abilities at one point, but I bet you didn't think I'd have it do it while Reno fully intended it to. Somehow I think Tseng's going to have a difficult time talking him into joining the Turks if his initial reaction is anything to go off._

_And yes, I overdid the Rufus scenes. Describing that man is half of my motivation to write sometimes *giggles*. I loved Reno's reaction to finding out who he was though._

_Thank you to everyone reading btw._

_Note For Those Reading On FF.NET; I love it even more if you don't forget to review. I think one person reviewed last chapter. Are you still reading or has everyone gone off it?_

_I sure hope not, I love writing this one and I have a fair way to go with it too._

_More insanity awaits,_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_My fics can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Mailing lists, fics, pics, quizzes, AF's TopTen, Rufus VS Reno and general insanity._

.


	8. Home Is Where The Heart Is

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 8 

**Home Is Where The Heart Is****.**

          "Are you sure you want to go ahead with this plan?"

          "Of course I am. I told you the penalties for backing out. Are you doubting my word again?"

          "N-no, of course not. I-it's just that he'll be named leader in a few days. Killing the leader of the Turks is a little different than before. I just wanted to make sure you wanted to go ahead. You do don't you? Want to go ahead I mean."

          "Now more than ever."

*****************

          "Always a pleasure to see you up here Mr. Tseng.  Though I heartily look forward to the day when I don't have to see you quite so often."

          Tseng looked up at Hojo from where he had been scribbling his name into the lab visitation book and grimaced slightly. Doubtless the Professor was talking about the day when Tseng's reasons for visiting on a regular basis were taken away. And no wonder. From what he'd heard so far, Hojo's latest specimen wasn't taking to the recovery very well.

          Tseng finished with the book and straightened up from the desk and proceeded to follow Hojo into the lab proper. 

"Any ideas when that might be Professor?"

Hojo smiled at Tseng over his shoulder and Tseng felt the urge to shudder. The man just didn't have a face for smiling, and when he did it ended up looking slightly manic and wholly evil.

"Today if at all possible. That is why I called you up here. The latest tests have come back positive. I would ask permission to keep the subject longer, however I'm finding it hard to cope with its habits. Highly annoying creature if you ask me."

Hojo's subjects were always 'its' never 'hes' or 'shes', always 'its'. It was more than a little disturbing to hear. Not to mention his reference of 'creature' when describing a human being. 

It was probably just Reno's own good luck that he had proven too much even for the Professor to want to keep around. 

This space of the floor was kept open for infirmary type purposes that required the Professor's unique style of care, though it was mostly bare now. Only one bed was taken up, but the room was still noisy. Tseng could've heard Reno yelling from ten paces down the corridor.

"Well, he sounds in good spirits," Tseng commented dryly. An understatement. Yesterday he'd still been unconscious. The day before he'd been practically dead.

"The treatment works fast." The Professor replied with a sniff. Of course, the professor thought everything he did was flawless and above reproach. He just hoped Reno would see it that way when he told him.

Though Tseng thought it highly unlikely.

As soon as he stepped in sight of the man sitting upright in the bed, the yelling suddenly stopped. A pair of intense blue eyes tracked him across the room as he crossed it and stood by the window next to the bed. He could almost feel the anger radiate toward him off that gaze. And it was worse with the realization that it would be even more intense after Tseng spoke to him. Finally Tseng looked him in the eye, though he barely suppressed a wince at what he found there. Outwardly he showed nothing other than a mask of calm composure though.

"Grab your stuff. It's time to leave."

Reno blinked at him in surprise before bringing the scowl back onto his face in full force. "I would but I'm a little tied down at the moment."

Tseng had only just noticed the restraints. Hojo had mentioned he'd gotten a little violent upon waking. He moved over to the bed and started undoing the restraints. 

"So where am I being dragged off to this time? A cell? An interrogation room? Or are you just going to chain me up somewhere different for kicks?"

Tseng finished with the first and crossed over to undo the second one around his other wrist. Still calm, still composed. 

"You may go wherever you wish Reno. If you want to stay, you can. If you want to go home, you can. Not I nor anyone else will stop you."

Another blink of surprise. "Without a bracelet?"

"Without a bracelet." Tseng confirmed finishing with the second restraint. Reno rubbed his wrists and fixed Tseng with a calculating look. Did he know Tseng was still hiding something from him?

"Just like that. I can go. You're going to let me go?"

"I appreciate that you need to think things over." Tseng replied carefully.

"You don't want me as your new Turk anymore?"

Tseng paused for a moment, pretending to think things over for a little while before finally replying. "Perhaps. Though I'm not sure if I'd be heartbroken if you chose otherwise. We like our Turks to have a certain amount of uncaring. We do not however, like them headstrong and as stupid as the doormat we wipe our feet on every morning coming into work. What you did was irrational, foolhardy and incredibly, incredibly stupid. Had it not been for the resources of the Shinra and their science department's drastic efforts, you would be either dead or lying in a bed somewhere drooling for the rest of your life." 

Tseng knew most of it was true, but despite what he had done, he had also been a little impressed with Reno's bravery. It was just the reasons Tseng had a problem with. But it wasn't enough to make him want to see Reno go and never come back. He still intended for Reno to become a Turk. It was practically a forgone conclusion anyway. He had told the President and Heidigar about it already. And there was no way Shinra would have allowed these 'drastic efforts' to have been done on a simple slum rat had he not been meant to become one of them. He'd had a lot of explaining as it was as to why Reno had collapsed in the lobby the other day as it was. But he had learnt that forcing Reno into the position wasn't going to work. Asking him probably wouldn't either. Not if Reno thought he was wanted anyway. He had an uncanny knack at exploiting an opponent's weakness and if he thought for one moment that they wanted or needed him, he would bleed everything he could from them before spitting them out and telling them to go set themselves on fire. However, if Reno thought he might have to fight to prove himself worthy…At least this was what he had surmised. Reno could be unpredictable at the best of times though. It might just end up backfiring altogether. But it was worth the risk. 

But of course, Reno didn't follow in on the part of the conversation Tseng had intended him to. Instead he picked up on another point Tseng had planned on getting to later.

"What 'drastic efforts'? And why aren't I in a real hospital. Shinra don't heal people. They mutilate people."

Well, he would have had to tell him sooner or later anyway. It might as well be now. "In order for your body to accept any form of healing it first needed to be made stronger to cope with the radical changes. You were severely hurt the other day. There was only one way to mend your body."

"Which was?" Reno prompted. He didn't look like he liked where this was going. 

"They had to infuse you with small amounts of mako. It makes the body stronger and promotes faster healing. They were then able to…"

"Mako infusion! What?! are you out of your fucking mind!"

"I sometimes think so." Tseng muttered under his breath. To Reno he said, "As I told you, the alternatives were much worse in comparison. Would you prefer to be dead or a vegetable?"

"Can I get back to you on that?"

"You won't incur any serious side effects from the procedure. It's perfectly safe. I can assure you of that."

"I saw this guy once. Treated with mako. He lives in a discarded water pipe in the slums now." Reno had mockingly brightened his voice, but he was clearly still angry, "He's insane by the way."

Tseng had begun to think that a lot of the people in the slums weren't very sane anymore. At least if Reno's idea or normalcy was anything to go off.

"That probably has nothing to do with the mako. Not many people outside of Soldier have the treatment and Soldier have a lot of washouts from stress. They also have a lot more of the treatment than you did among other things. Nothing to do with mako." All the truth of course. Just not the whole truth.

"How do you know it's so safe? How can you make these assurances?"

"Because I have been living with it for over a decade and nothing untoward has happened to me. Some Turks are treated with it as a course of their job after a certain amount of years."

It seemed an effort for Reno not to look too shocked at that. He did spend a few moments intently searching Tseng's eyes, probably for some hint of a glow. Tseng knew a glow was there. But it was slight in any Turk's eyes, and his were very dark in color to begin with. But he let Reno look. It might help for him to see that Tseng's eyes weren't glowing like a mako pool. He wasn't however going to bring up the fact that Reno's much lighter, blue eyes would show the effects much more clearly. Though still subdued as mako glow went. And like he had said; not near as much as a Soldier's.

After his inspection of Tseng's eyes, Reno threw back the covers and got to his feet. The clothes in the cabinet by his bed weren't the ones he last remembered wearing, actually they were a lot like the ones he'd worn on the mission to get the files. Not the same ones though, these still had the tags attached.

"You bought me clothes?"

"It was either that or give you one of Dallen's old Turk suits. Nothing else would have fit you."

Tseng had actually thought of doing that. Both he and Dallen were too tall and wide-shouldered to lend him any clothes, but one of Dallen's old suits from when he first joined the Turks would have fit him quite nicely. It may have also been interesting to see how Reno took to wearing it.

Struggling into the clothes, Reno didn't have much in the way of belongings, he turned back toward Tseng with a slight wince.

Gods, his head still hurt sometimes.

"I want you to take me the fuck outta here. I'm going home."

***

There were a few reasons he could have thought to stay on. Being on the Plates and having the opportunity for a steady paycheck was a good one. Telling Tseng and Dallen about the plot to kill them was another. But both were really dimmed after what had happened to him. So Tseng said he was foolhardy and stupid. So what? He didn't have to prove himself to Tseng. It was the man's own fault for backing him into a corner like that. He shouldn't have pushed him, that's all there was to it. And because of that, Reno made the decision that Tseng and Dallen would have to look after themselves. 

Fuck 'em.

They were Turks, they could look after themselves. 

Reno sighed audibly when he stepped out onto the train platform at Sector Four. It was like seeing an old friend again. Beaming at the dilapidated buildings and taking in a lungful of potent slums air he trotted down the stairs of the train station and started the trek toward Rankin's building. Half the people he passed gave him odd or just plain scared looks as he passed grinning like a man who wasn't in fact walking through the slums. Some even shot a few calculating looks at his rich looking clothing as if weighing their chances. A hard stare that didn't change the smile on his face seemed to warn them off it though. Odd really, normally they might have pressed him a little more.

The building itself was the best welcome he could have imagined. The mere sight of it made his smile grow and his mood soar. He didn't realize how glad he would be to finally get back to something familiar. Something free. Something that didn't force him into anything. 

Not even almost running into Dart as he was coming out of the door managed to wipe the grin off his face. Though it did make him bear his teeth a little bit.

"Well if it aint the little scum sucking fuck wit 'imself." Dart said before he spat of the step by Reno's left boot.

"Nice to see you too Dart. How's life as a degenerate slum rat been anyway? Finally gotten rid of that rash?"

Dart stopped in front of Reno, drawing himself up to his full impressive height of at least half a foot taller than Reno. Naturally his two buddies crowded in behind him, ready for a fight.

Dart was busy looking over Reno's new clothes. "Thought you were dead asswipe." 

"Was for while I think. You should try it some time."

"I oughta…" Dart trailed off as he finally raised his eyes enough to see Reno's face. Eyes widened slightly before he took an involuntary step back almost jostling his buddy standing behind him. "You on somefin'?"

"It a drug called freedom." Reno told him, "Amazing stuff. Now if you'd kindly move your meaty ass out of the doorway so I can go see Rankin…or do I have to move you myself?"

"Like to see you try." But Dart moved readily enough motioning to his buddies to fall in behind him. Reno watched till they were halfway down the street before fighting off the confusion and stepping through the door proper. 

Few people greeted him as he made his way up to the fourth floor. A few smiles and 'thought you were dead's. Most just tended to give him a wide enough berth and pretended that he wasn't there. It was as though they didn't recognize him. Probably the clothes.

Knocking on Rankin's door, Reno entered immediately and took his usual seat before his boss' desk. Rankin himself didn't quite look like he was believing what he was seeing.

"Thought you were dead."

The comment almost pulled the smile from Reno's face. "I'm getting that a lot. I was only gone for…"

"A week." Rankin supplied. "You were gone for a week Reno. Another week and I was gonna have Tarren clear out your stuff." Rankin lit up a cigarette, the man seldom seemed to have one far from his hand, and peered intently at Reno's face. "You on something?"

Reno threw up his hands, finally frustrated. "Can't a man look happy to be home without people thinking he's on drugs?"

"If your home's here Reno, the answer is yes. You look funny."

"I'm a funny guy." Reno answered in all seriousness.

Thankfully Rankin stopped his examination and leant back in his creaky metal chair. "So you gonna tell me what happened to you?"

So Reno told him. Everything from going to Tseng, to the arrest, the interrogation, the bracelet, the training everything. There was no need to hold anything back from Rankin. He was an information gatherer after all, Rankin paid him for stuff like this. He did leave a few things out though. Arkette's plot to kill Tseng for instance. Reno was still waiting for that particular one to play through. But he did tell Rankin all the little bits of information he was sure Tseng would have chocobos over if he knew Reno was telling. Bits of information he was sure the Turks had been going to kill him over knowing. Well before he knew they were simply going to recruit him instead. That was also a part he kept out. The want to recruit him. Rankin sure as hell didn't need to know about that little tidbit. When he was done, Rankin lit another cigarette, the last one long since gone out, and whistled through his teeth.

"You sure have had an exciting few days. How tempted were you to pull the trigger and blow Vice President Shinra to hell?"

"Pretty tempted." Reno admitted. 

Rankin smiled at let out a guffaw. "Piss himself?"

"Not exactly. He doesn't seem to be easily shaken."

"And what about the girl. Reiden wasn't it? Do you think she'd be any good as a source?"

He had winced when he'd let it slip about meeting Elena. He'd only really mentioned meeting her twice and her helping him out. "I doubt it. She doesn't work for Shinra anyway."

"Be that as it may, she's a girl in a high place. Could be useful. Anyway, you did good Reno. I think you may have even made allies with at least two of those Turks. At least allies enough to be used when we need to. You deserve some time off. You have three days to recuperate before I'll want to see you in here again. Though I might have a few questions in the meantime."

"I really would like to keep working."

Rankin brushed his request aside, "If your worried 'bout your money, don't. You'll be paid a bonus for you work. And I'll pay you for the next three days. Might even let you go on some of the heavier missions after your rest. Having got that extra training and all. You might be handy in a fight."

Reno wanted to complain some more but shut his mouth in time. He was getting paid, so why did he want to be working so bad? He didn't really want to think about that. 

Getting to his feet, he left Rankin alone to his plotting in his smoke haze. He almost walked into Tarran who had been hovering by the door. As soon as he was out, Tarran seized his arm and stopped him. 

"Whoa man, mind in another place or what?"

"Tarran, how'd you…?"

"Rorc told me when he saw you coming up to see Rankin. Jeez man, gone on a simple make the piece mission for a week. I was beginning to think you were dead."

Reno ground his teeth. "Anymore people say that to me I'm gonna start thinking you're all disappointed or something."

A young messenger boy passed them on his way to Rankin's office causing the two to have to move up against the wall to let him pass. The boy, though known to Reno gave the him an odd look before quickening his steps past them.

"C'mon, we'll go back downstairs. I want to hear about your adventures."

Reno entered his old room and fell backwards onto his bed with his arms tucked up behind his head and gazed at the ceiling. A usual pose for him when he wanted to think. Tarran closed the door and went to sit on the floor by Reno's bed expectantly.

"Well? Did you make nice with the Turks? Get and Plate rich girl to give you the leg over? I want to know /everything/."

For the second time that day, Reno told his story. Only this time he left no detail out. Tarren had his trust and he needed an unbias opinion. When he was finished Tarran muttered 'fuck' and offered Reno a smoke. Reno waved him off then asked;

"Do I look different to you? I've been ignoring the odd looks 'cause I was so happy to be back. But I look different don't I?"

"If you're talking about mako eyes, it's really barely noticeable. Just kinda looks like you eyes are a little lighter than they were really. And you can only really notice when you /really/ look."

"I didn't mean just my eyes." Reno said softly getting to his feet and walking to stand before the small mirror that stood over their sink against one wall of the room. /He/ could see the difference in his eyes. He guessed because his eyes were lighter, they looked ten times as effected as Tseng's had. But like Tarran had said, it really wasn't /that/ noticeable. It was the rest of his face that worried him. Had the treatment made him look older somehow?

Tarran seemed reluctant to answer at first, but he did so eventually. "You look like you've seen a lot. It tells, no matter how much you've tried to grin at me and tell me your happy to be home."

"No more than I would see down here in a week." Reno told him stubbornly, still studying his face. "Less even."

"I don't mean that. Shit Reno, you've been beaten, worked, sleep deprived and attached to a machine that could and did fry your brain. That don't happen in a normal week, no matter where you live. Not all at once at least. Plus I think you're worried. You're under stress man. I've never seen you like this. And I've seen you held up against a wall by two guys while a third drove a knife into your gut."

"How could I possibly be stressed? I'm away from those sadistic dog fuckers. I should be ecstatic!"

"Is that why Rorc said you were wandering 'round the building with his maniacal grin on your face? I think you've been tryna tell yourself that you're happier than you really are."

Reno turned to face his friends, a stubborn set to his face. "Go fuck yourself. If you think for one minute I enjoyed being those assholes' dog, you're on more drugs than I apparently am."

"No, I don't think you enjoyed being their dog any more than Dart would want to wear a dress and sell flowers. But I think the idea of being their /equal/ appealed to you more than you'd like to think it did. You only pretend to be this non-ambitious carefree guy. But I've seen the stash under you bunk. I know you want out of here every bit as much as any asshole with a speck of sanity left wants to." Tarran finished matter-of-factly. 

"No. I. Don't. Not wanting to stay here and becoming a Turk are two different goals. Becoming a Turk would only mean being exactly where I am now only wealthier and slightly more immoral."

"Since when have you cared about morality?" Reno's face darkened slightly at that, "Okay so you're not totally immoral. Not where it counts at least. You certainly don't act like you care anyway. And finally you've got the face to match the unconcerned bastard you've been trying to be."

Tarran was getting a little angry with him and Reno couldn't blame him. He was right to an extent, but not about everything.

"I'm not good at taking orders."

Tarran sighed at let go of what little anger had been building up against his stubborn friend. "Doesn't matter. It'll take a far more wise man to convince you. But I definitely think you're worried about Dallen and Tseng. You may not be bestest buddies with them, but I can tell you don't totally dislike them. Least not as much as you do Arkette. You should've warned them."

"Weren't you listening? Those bastards…"

"Saved your life." Tarran finished.

"Yeah, after they put the bracelet on my arm in the first place."

"They could have let Arkette beat you to death." Tarran shrugged. "It wouldn't be as if you were helping them bring down Arkette. Just warning them is all."

"You'd like Tseng." Reno cut in abruptly. "You're a lot like him sometimes. Though without wanting to torture me or use me. The smug logical part of him is definitely like you."

Tarran grinned. "All the more reason to save him. Aren't many of us wise, logical, slightly immoral bastards left anymore."

"Blow me." Reno returned pleasantly.

"Speaking or the slightly sexual, what was this about a pretty blond rich girl named Elena?"

An obvious attempt to change the subject to something a little more light-hearted. And one Reno would have been immensely grateful for had he not known Tarran would just bug him more about the whole 'Turk' thing later when he'd cooled off a little.

"You can be assured that there was nothing slightly sexual involved. Pretty alright if you like that whole girl-next-door look,"

"Which I know you do."

"but I think she thought the whole idea of helping me out was like an exciting rebellious thing to do. Doing something daddy wouldn't like."

"You should have told her that daddy would've had a stroke if he knew you'd fucked her brains out in her hotel room."

Reno looked thoughtful for a few minutes. "I'd never actually thought of that. But of course suggesting it would've made her angry that she'd act like such a spoilt kid."

"Not to mention you suggesting hot wild sex at all to a girl like that."

"Would've been mind blowing though," Reno mused, "Literally if I'd let Arkette get away from me."

"You know I don't believe that you actually kissed her at all don't you? I mean there is no way a nice, attractive, rich girl is gonna even be vaguely interested in the likes of you. I don't care what sort of rebellious urge you think she had. I bet she doesn't even exist."  
          Reno raised an eyebrow at his friend. Tarran was smiling, but perfectly serious. "If I made her up, wouldn't I say that I spent a hot passionate night with the girl where she licked cream off my body and performed unspeakable acts of pleasure at my whim?"

"Reno I've known you for longer than I care to remember. You could lie with the best politicians in the city. It'd be far easier to believe you shared a few quiet kisses in private than anything more imaginative."

"You really don't believe me? Fine, I'll prove it. Tonight." Reno stated returning back to his bed.

Tarran grinned, "You're on, Turk."

Reno froze in midstep and swiveled round to face Tarran. "Don't call me that. Ever." 

He wished his voice held more conviction than it did

***

_Notes: so this was kinda short for an Insane chapter, but I left it there because the next chapter seems to want to be longer. I have a lot to get through_.

_So Reno is back home, but is he truly that happy to be back and away from the Turks? Maybe. Maybe not. He seemed a little too ready to get back onto the Plates to see Elena._

_Too much temptation_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories of mine can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Mailing list, pics, fights, general insanity and moderately unpopular stories of my own designs. Upcoming episodes for ADKOS on site._


	9. That Last Job

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 9 

That Last Job.

          Reno heard the clatter of the stones softly hit the window of the room above, but still nobody from within came to investigate the noise. They were the last few stones he could find to throw, the roadway was fairly clean around this section of town. Tarran swiveled his head around to look at Reno, arms crossed over his chest, a light smirk on his face.

          "She probably just can't hear," Reno protested ignoring the look.

          They were of course standing on the roadway outside the wealthy Marsterson hotel where Elena was staying. They had tried the front desk of course, but the snotty man behind the desk had refused to give them permission to go up to Elena's room. Not entirely surprising considering the pair of them looked like little more than Midgar street scum, which Reno supposed that they were, but it did come as a surprise that the man had security physically throw them out of the front door. Oh sure, they could've fought back, perhaps even won against the two bullies gripping their collars. But at a look from Reno, Tarran had let himself be manhandled out the door and tossed onto the street alongside his friend. Making a scene would not help them see Elena. It might even result in them being chased the rest of the night by the MPD. 

Plan B.

It wasn't difficult to remember which room was hers. He had of course, climbed out of her window before. So Reno had decided on a simple task of grabbing her attention so she could come down to them. And so Reno had begun pelting small stones at her window. Sure her window wasn't all that close to the ground, but Reno had a good arm, and there was no way he was leaving the Plates tonight until he'd proven to his doubting friend that Elena did actually exist. 

"This is the most childish display I've ever seen." Tarran commented dryly. "Throwing stones at her window, what are you some horny teenager or something?"

Reno pretended to think it over for a second before replying simply, "Well, yes I am." Tarran blinked at that. It seemed he forgot Reno /was/ still a teenager all too often even though Tarran himself wasn't much older than that himself.  "But that's not why I'm doing this." A thoughtful look then; "Time for plan C."

Reno started toward the side awning he'd used to climb down on his previous visit, fixed to the building to shelter the secondary entrance to the hotel. Jumping up, he caught the side of the awning and proceeded to pull himself onto the top of it and within easy access of the fire escape. 

"Oh, you're fucking with me." Was Tarran's groan from down below.

Mirroring Tarran's smirk from earlier, Reno walked over to the edge to see his friend properly. "Wassa matter? 'Fraid of heights?"

"No." Tarran replied stubbornly, "I'm just afraid of falling off things that are a long way off the ground."

"Fine, stay down there, you can see the window fine from there. I'll get her to blow you a kiss."

With that Reno headed toward the fire escape and vaulted over the railing to begin climbing the stairs. Soon enough he came to the landing below Elena's window and stopped. The drop from Elena's window wasn't large, but it was further than Reno could jump. Studying the situation for a second, he climbed up on top of the thin metal railing of the platform. Figuring he could make the jump from there, he threw all his strength into his legs and leapt up and across. He made the jump easy enough, grabbing onto the ledge of the window, but the impact of the rest of his body hitting the concrete bricks was enough to knock his wind out almost causing him to lose his tenacious hold on the window ledge. He kept a firm grip though, took a few deep breaths and hauled himself up high enough to see in through the window.

Elena was in there alright, and alone thankfully. She sat on the plush hotel sofa, cross-legged in a thin white something Reno assumed to be a nightdress. He only assumed that's what it was considering he couldn't see a lot of the garment. There wasn't much of it to see. He almost lost his grip on the window again. Gritting his teeth he steadied himself once more and concentrated on the task at hand. She seemed to have her head bent over some papers sitting in her lap while she tapped a pen on the sofa's arm in a steady rhythm. Seeing the small stereo sitting on the coffee table, Reno finally understood why she hadn't been able to hear the stones against the window. We'll she'll sure as hell hear him knocking. She did of course. Luckily. He wasn't sure how long he could hold himself up here and knock on her window. Her reaction caused him to grin inanely. She jumped in her seat, the papers slithering off her lap and her head snapped around in the direction of the window. Reno widened his smile and tried to wave, almost losing his grip once again in the process. Seeing him falter must have jolted Elena into action. She sprung up and rushed to the window, throwing open the latch and pulling it open. Grabbing his hands to steady him, she helped him in through the window. Once he was in, he threw a relieved look over his shoulder toward the drop and leant back against the window frame, breathing hard.

"Thanks. Thought I was about to become a sidewalk flavored pancake for a moment there." The grin was back within seconds though as he openly looked her over. "And you're looking you're usual ravishing self. Near transparent looks good on you." It really wasn't even translucent, but it was thin enough to deserve a comment.

Elena flushed a deep pink and self consciously folded her arms over the breasts Reno couldn't see through the dress enough to make out anyway. Despite her actions, her voice still managed to come out proud and clear though.

"I wasn't expecting visitors at this time of night. I was about to go to bed. I certainly wasn't expecting someone to climb up to my window like some sort of criminal."

Reno shrugged, finally raising his eyes to meet hers. "But I /am/ a criminal."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" That sounded a little more concerned, despite how hard she tried to not make it sound like it.

"I usually am." Reno answered causally. "But nothing immediate. Nah, Tarran wanted to meet you but that grandiloquent asswipe on the front desk had us thrown out. Hence the sneaky window plan."

"You wanted to introduce me to…" Elena tapered off before, "grandiloquent?"

"Yeah," Reno shrugged again, trying to not let his amusement show on his face, "you know pompous, pretentious,"

"I know what the word means Reno, I just didn't know that you," Elena paused for a second and looked a little guilty, "I mean, well, you know."

"Because I'm a slum rat." Reno supplied without a trace of sarcasm. He didn't mind that generalized view that Plate people had about slum people. That they were all a bunch of illiterate half-wit inbreeds.  Hey, Reno himself was pretty sure Dart fit into all three of those categories and then some. But being the underdog had its advantages. And it was fun to prove the generalized view wrong sometimes just for the fun of it.

"Well, no. I just…"

"It's okay. I actually read it off my bosses word of the month calendar." He confided truthfully.

That caused Elena to smile and relax her stance a little. "I don't know whether to laugh or strangle you half the time Reno."

"Ah, so we're back to Reno now. I thought for a while you were gonna keep calling me 'mister'."

"I was annoyed at you. And I don't know what to call you. You told me your name was Reno. But you told the others your name was Rylie Anderson. Are you going to now tell me your real name is Herbert Black or something?"

"Nah, today call me Rufus Shinra."

"Ha ha, very funny. You don't trust me with your real name?"

A pause. "It's Reno. Honest. Not Rylie, certainly not Herbert. Just Reno."

"What no last name? I thought you rather suited 'Mr. Anderson'."

"Just Reno."

Elena shrugged and looked over Reno's shoulder toward the man standing down on the sidewalk. "Is that your friend?"

"Yup. C'mon put some clothes on so you can come meet him. We'll take you out for a night of the town, slum rat style."

"I can't, I've got…"

"Well, you don't /have/ to get dressed if you don't want to. Actually I think you look pretty good in what you've got on."

"No. I have some papers to look over. I can't tonight." She actually sounded disappointed at that, Reno was glad to note.

"You really know how to break a guy's heart El. But if you can't, you can't. I understand."

"Another time? I'm still in Midgar for a while yet before I go back to Junon."

Reno grinned, he couldn't help it. "Sure. But only if you do me a favor."

*

Tarran shook his head in wonder for the sixth time since leaving the hotel and muttered, "I can't believe it."

And the same as always Reno replied with a smug, "Believe it. You saw her."

And so Tarran had. On Reno's request, Elena had leaned out of her hotel room window with a big smile in her thin night dress and blew Tarran a kiss. And to put the icing on the cake, she had given Reno a quick peck on the cheek before he had dropped down to the fire escape while leaving. She really had been a good sport about it all. He had half expected her to slap him when he had asked. Instead she had thought it was funny and grinned at the idea. One thing was for sure; Plate women were weird. 

"But she's…and you're…" Tarran stopped dead in the street and screwed up his face. "I can't believe it!"

Reno's smug smile grew wider and he stopped a few paces beyond his friend and turned back. "Did you see what she was wearing?"

"Are you kidding me?" Tarran asked as he resumed walking next to his friend, "I swear I got half hard just lookin' at her."

Reno laughed, "This from a guy who sees naked women more often than he sees sunsets."

"Do not." Tarran protested, "But I dunno, she wasn't any prettier than a few girls I've been with. Maybe it was just the thing about her being a Plate girl wearing something that would make a Slum girl blush."

"Whatever, but you're version of pretty is a little fucked up. The last person I saw you with was Rita, and while Rita might be a little something to look at if she had a few decent meals in her and a good bath, she still isn't what I'd call amazingly attractive."

"Oh, and you're Elena is huh?"

Reno almost laughed, but he wasn't sure exactly why. "/My/ Elena? She is not /my/ Elena. But she /is/ a damn sight better looking than Rita."

"Even though you were calling her a spoilt rich kid only this morning." Tarran reminded.

"Her being a spoilt rich kid does not take away from the fact that she has nice tits Tarran. I'm talking about her body, not her stunning personality."

Tarran grinned at his friend, "You would be talking about the stunning personality that is intelligent, helpful and risks her well being just by talking to you."

"Oh, yeah, she's a big risk taker." Reno replied sarcastically.

"She is really. The fragile fabric of Plate life. She could be in deep shit if her father knew you were sneaking in through her hotel room window. Not to mention what Arkette might do if he even found out. That Arkette sounds like a nasty guy. And he might do anything to get his hands on you."

This time it was Reno who came to a stop on the street, arms folded, looking at his friend like he'd just caught the man trying to lift his wallet out of his back pocket. "I wondered when you were going to try and slip that back into the conversation. Tell me the truth, did you /really/ think I was lying about Elena? Or were you just trying to get me back up here so I could conveniently go warn Tseng and Dallen?"

Tarran studied his shoes guilty and shrugged. "I did and I didn't believe you. I wasn't entirely sure."

"But you did want to get me back up here."

Tarran nodded and tried to smile reassuringly. "I knew you'd make the decent decision sooner or later. It would just be more convenient if you were near to them when you made it is all."

Reno eyed his friend critically. That definitely sounded like something Tseng would say.

"You really think I'm being a bastard for holding out on them don't you?"

Tarran shrugged again and shifted his feet uncomfortably. "I think you've had your reasons. But I also know you'd feel guilty if something happened to them."

"You assume too much." Reno told him levelly. "I'd be more concerned about a fly up my nose."

"If you insist." Tarran said dismissively before he turned around and began walking back in the direction of the tunnels.

Reno caught up to him after a short jog and fell into step beside him. "You think I'm making a mistake."

"I think you know enough to make the decision for yourself. You know more than me anyway."

"They're torturing sadists Tarran! Why the fuck should I care?"

"You're right."

"So now you're agreeing with me?" Reno asked testily, "This reverse shit won't work on me."

"I'm not trying to pull anything."

"Yes you are. You never agree so quickly."

"Yes I do."

"See what you're doing!?"

"Reno the only person arguing with you is yourself. You're so caught up thinking that you are right and I am wrong, that the moment I start agreeing you start thinking that I don't mean it."

"But you don't." Reno pointed out.

"That's beside the point. Tell me straight; what do /you/ want to do?"

Reno looked at his friend once before running an unsteady hand through his hair. "I don't want Arkette to win. He's a slimy bastard who should never be any sort of position of power."

"And Tseng and Dallen?"

"Are still fucking bastards."

"Reno…"

Reno let out a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'll warn them. Happy?"

"If it makes the decision easier you can think whatever you want Reno and assume you're doing this because I talked you into it." Tarran grinned, "Want me to come along?"

Reno shook his head as they came to a stop near an intersection. One way lead uptown toward Tseng's apartment, the other lead toward the train tunnels and home. "Nah."

"Oh c'mon, you'll need someone to watch your back."

"They don't need to know how much you know about this, it won't make them happy. I'll be fine." Reno turned away from his friend and started making his way up town. "The Turks have my back."

Surprisingly he didn't realize how true that sounded and not as some hollow statement designed to assure his friend

***

"Wha-what?" Dallen sat bolt upright from where he had passed out on his couch, startled at the insistent knocking on his door. Grumbling, wincing at the noise, and staggering slightly, he pulled himself off the couch and over toward the door. Pulling it open roughly, he winced at the brightness of the hall lights now streaking into his eyes. It took him a few moments to be able to focus on whoever it was at his door, but the person spoke, giving himself away, before Dallen could get his eyes to work properly.

"Well, you look like you've swimming laps in a glass of whiskey. I must say, I've seen better looking people in an intensive care ward."

Dallen rolled his eyes as Reno pushed past him into the Turk's apartment, snapping on the interior lights as he went.

"Hello Peaches. What an unexpected and unwelcome surprise." Dallen shut his door and made to shut the lights off that Reno had begun to turn on. At least most of them. He left a lamp on by the door. It still made his eyes water.

"Yeah well, this ain't a pleasure visit. And I wouldn't be here except that Tseng isn't home." Reno stood in the center of the room and shoved his hands into his pockets. "And you need to hear this."

"Tseng's in Kalm till tomorrow. What? You changed your mind on the Turk thing?"

"Not likely. This is about Arkette. He's planning something. I think he's planning to kill Tseng or both of you." Dallen yawned and Reno continued, "He set us up that night at the buildings office. He's known about me and your plans for me all along."

That managed to open Dallen's eyes a little. He had wondered how much Arkette had known. "How do you know this?"

"I lied when I said Arkette went home straight after the function. He went to meet someone at an abandoned building about the mission. I overheard everything. And if you hurry, they're meeting again tonight, you might be able to catch him."

Dallen took a few moments to rub the sleep out of his eyes while he tried to take in everything Reno was telling him. He wasn't surprised to hear that Reno had lied about Arkette before. There was no real reason the boy would feel the need to be honest with them under the circumstances. But he was a little muddled about why Reno had chosen to come and tell him about it now.

"That's all very convenient Peaches. And suppose I did go along and Arkette is waiting to put a bullet in me?"

"If you think for one moment I've sided with that sick prick you're more insane that I thought. Get one thing straight Dallen, I am not here for my own health. In fact what I'm doing puts me in more danger than if I'd stayed home and spray paint Don Corneo's mansion purple, alright? And if you don't wanna believe me fine, don't. But I warned you."

Dallen hadn't really believed Reno was lying. But he had been a little suspicious. But Reno did look on the verge of throwing up his hands and walking out. If Arkette was behind this, there was no way he would tolerate Reno's giving up convincing him so easily. And besides, he got the impression that Reno would rather tangle with Corneo's muscle men than say 'yes sir' to Arkette. 

"This is serious then." Dallen commented thoughtfully. "Tonight you say?"

"Right. A building site a couple of blocks up from the Marsterson. Lower floor."

Dallen shook his head slightly to clear it a little and went to pick up his jacket from the floor next to the couch. Straightening up, he fought off a wave of dizziness to put it on. "No need for directions."

Reno's brow creased in confusion. "There is if you plan to find him."

Dallen crossed over to unlock the top draw off his desk where he kept his spare gun and extra ammo. "There isn't. Because you're coming with me." Dallen told him over his shoulder.

"Oh no," Reno started holding up his hands and backing toward the door. "This is not my problem. You're the Turk, not me. Arkette is your problem."

Dallen let out a long breath and turned back to face Reno, an unusually serious look on his face. "Look, Reno, I'll be honest with you." Reno halted in his backing at Dallen's change in tone. Not to mention the man actually using his real name for once. "With Tseng out of town, and the only two other Turks allied against me I'd be as good as dead if I confronted them. Two to one is not my favorite odds. No matter how incompetent I call Arkette and Gafford, and I'd be stupid to think he isn't also involved, they're still Turks. And no matter what you think, you're almost as good as any Turk I've seen. Better than some even. I need backup." Dallen threw his spare handgun toward Reno who caught it easily, "And I need you there."

Reno turned the gun over in his hands, seemingly inspecting the black metal before raising his eyes back up to Dallen. "You lie like that to you're mother?"

Dallen's mouth curved up into a smile and he shrugged. "I would if she weren't too drunk half the time to understand what I was saying. I wasn't fully lying you know though. I really don't feel like dying. And you at least know enough about how to outwit a Turk to keep a bullet out of my back."

"You trust me that much huh?" Reno muttered.

"More than you warrant Peaches. You remind me too much of myself sometimes. But not as good looking of course." Dallen re-locked the drawer after pocketing a few extra clips and started toward Reno and the door, "Now tuck that gun away. We both know how much you'd love the chance to take a shot at Arkette so don't be all hesitant. It doesn't suit you."

Reno smirked and tucked the gun into the back of his belt. "I'm still working on it."

*

They left Dallen's car, a nice blue sports car that had Reno almost drooling over the upholstery, a couple of blocks up from the Marsterson and jogged the rest of the way to the building. As they jogged, Dallen split the ammo up between them and clipped some kind of weapon onto his belt. To Reno it looked something like what most of the blue uniformed MPD carried with them. A baton or a nightstick or something? Whatever it was it was about three and a half foot long  of slim shiny black metal with a rubber grip on one end. On the other end sprouted two, inch long silver prongs. A couple of colored buttons ringed the weapon down near the grip. It was a very interesting looking device. He mentioned as much to Dallen.

Dallen grinned and stroked the metal rod swinging by his hip. "It may look a little odd, but I'd never leave it home walking into a fight."

"What /is/ it?"

"An Electro-Mag Rod." Dallen told him. Then seeing the quizzical eyebrow amended, "A nightstick with a kick." The eyebrow didn't lower. "You'll see."

The pair settled into a quiet jog after that. That lasted for about one minute before Reno had to speak up again. "Do you have a plan?"

Dallen couldn't help giving the boy a half smile as he answered, "Tseng's the one that generally comes up with plans. I usually just run in and start breaking stuff."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Reno answered nodding. 

Dallen, so used to being argued at for something so insane sounding could only grin wider. 

They reached the building and flattened themselves up against the brick wall near the street entryway. Dallen could see no cars about, parked or otherwise. He strained his ears, but he couldn't hear any voices from within either. Not that he thought he might. It was a brick building whether it was in disrepair or not. Reno was in a similar pose to him about twenty feet away, spaced out just in case they got into trouble prematurely. Before taking his gun out of its holster, Dallen caught Reno's attention and began to give him the silent gestures the Turks used to tell the other man to go around the back. He did it automatically, not realizing that Reno wouldn't understand the gestures. He fought a laugh bubbling up from his chest when Reno repeated the gestures a little more flamboyantly with a few motions thrown in for good measure and punctuated the end with few rather crude gestures.  Dallen replied with a crude gesture of his own before making a simple walking gesture with his fingers and pointing behind the other man. This one understood, Reno gave Dallen a sloppy salute before turning and making for the side of the building. It took Dallen a few minutes to wipe the amusements from his face and unholster his gun. By the time he was ready to enter the building he had his gun firmly in his left hand, his nightstick in his right, and a face of professionalism Tseng would be proud of.

As quietly as he could, he shouldered the door open and stepped inside. Reno had told him that the meeting place was in the center of the building, so Dallen made his way as quickly and quietly as he could toward what he assumed was the center. Just before he turned a last corner around a high pile of stacked timber he halted hearing voices. 

"-in three nights. I expect no less. You will not fail me this time." 

That was definitely Arkette. He would recognize that steely voice anywhere.

"Of course not Sir. Everything is in place, just as you requested." The other voice was younger, less sure. "A-are you sure you wouldn't prefer to do this sooner Sir? I mean he'll be Leader by then. Wouldn't you prefer to do this before he is promoted?"

"No." Arkette's voice was cutting, "Let him have a chance to enjoy his promotion. I would rather it this way now."

"If those fools overlooked the proper man for the job. Let it be known that the man they did choose only lasted a day in his position before they elevate the /real/ man for the job." That was a different voice. Not Arkette, but it sounded as though it were mirroring Arkette's own ideas. That last voice had been Gafford. Dallen rolled his eyes and swore in his head. He wished he hadn't been right about Gafford. Gafford was a prick sure, but he would have preferred to just deal with Arkette tonight. Pulling his back off the wall he was leaning against, Dallen put on a fake smile and prepared to interrupt their little meeting.

"As you command Sir."

Just after that third guy left. Which he did do after that last sentence. Dallen couldn't see what was going on, but he heard a door open and close. This was his chance before the other two left. Smile in place, Dallen walked…straight out into the middle of the next room.

"Small world eh Arkette?"

Gafford took no pains to show his surprise at Dallen's arrival, but he still had enough wits to pull his gun. Halfway into the exercise, Dallen raised the nightstick and fired a blast of electricity at the Turk. Stunned, Gafford slithered to the floor in a barely conscious heap. One down.

Arkette wasn't so stupid to go for his gun seeing his fellow Turk already had two weapons out and ready. He merely just gave Dallen a cool rather condescending smile and replied, "It is indeed." Calmly, as if Dallen had not just nearly electrocuted his partner. "I might ask what bought you into this corner of it though. Has our new fearless leader to be gotten so paranoid as to have his own men followed now?"

"Tseng has nothing to do with this." Dallen replied conversationally. "But I'm sure he'll be very interested to know about this little scheme of yours. Do you remember what we do to treasonous Turks Arkette? If you aren't we can always go over to the Tower to remind you. I did hear that those stains were rather hard to remove from the pavement below the window to the Turks lounge. It was a far fall I guess."

If anything, Arkette's smile grew. "And you assume I am the treacherous one Dallen? I am not your enemy here."

Dallen pretended to look bored. "Can we skip the 'come to the dark side' speech? I have a hangover, not much sleep and a job tomorrow before Tseng gets back."

"As you wish," Arkette relented still looking sickenly pleased with himself, "let's just skip to the end then shall we?"

Dallen hardly got a chance to respond. He felt something grab his ankle with startling force and throw him off balance. He hit the floor rather unceremoniously and managed to lose both his weapons in the process. The hard cement smacked the back of his skull in a burst of pain. But he managed to take the worst of the blow on his right arm. An elbow thrown out to brace himself. He felt heard rather than heard the sharp snap that accompanied it. When he managed to open his eyes again he saw Gafford half struggling to his feet and Arkette with his gun out and leveled at him.

He hadn't the foggiest clue how Gafford had managed to trip him or overcome being hit with so much electricity. The man should have been down for a good ten minutes. Perhaps his  drug taking tendencies had finally done something in the other Turk's favor and numbed the pain for him. Or maybe Turks were just that much harder to take down that the norm. Part of their training had been to withstand certain amounts of pain. He should have taken that into account.

"Perhaps you will be far more open to other sides with a gun pointed at your head Dallen. I would hate to have to kill one of my Turks unnecessarily. Why don't you join the winning side?"

Dallen tried to look like he was thinking about the proposition, but it was difficult when it felt like his brains were spilling out of his skull and his right arm was on fire. Gafford had regained his feet by this point, but he still looked more than a little woozy. 

"Well?" Arkette prompted. He didn't look like he was really waiting. He obviously knew how Dallen would answer and if anything looked eager to deal with said answer. 

Dallen heard a familiar click and looked over Arkette's shoulder in time to see Reno step up behind the Turk. Dallen couldn't tell from his position, but he could guess from Arkette's expression that Reno had the muzzle pushed up against the back of the Turk's head. Dallen grinned very goofily despite the pain. He know felt confident enough to answer Arkette. 

"Go fuck yourself Darth. I /am/ on the winning side." To Reno he asked, "What the fuck took you so long?"

"I wanted to be fashionably late. Isn't how you Plate people make entrances?"

"You're timing is impeccable." Dallen replied brightly, pushing himself to his knees, now side on to Arkette. Gafford was standing still facing Arkette just off to his side, unarmed and staring at Reno like the man had sprouted a new head. He really was surprised very easily. But Dallen could tell that the man was more alert than he looked. He needed to be taken care of. Dallen's nightstick lay just a little in front of him now and he leant forward to pick it up, casually; "Will you kill this slug fucker now?"

"As you wish." Reno replied mirroring Arkette's earlier words.

Dallen didn't see the brief look Arkette and Gafford shared just before Reno had voiced his reply and so was very startled by the sound of Arkette's gun going off just as he managed to wrap his left hand around his nightstick. And startled he should have been. Then gun had gone off right next to him. 

Reno squeezed the trigger just as he felt a stunning blow to his right temple. Enough to snap his head sideways and throw him off balance. A second blow impacted in his ribs on the same side sending him into a pile of thin timbers that cracked under the weight of his body falling onto them. He'd lost his gun, that was for sure, but not his wits. He'd taken harder hits from guys twice as big as Gafford. Actually falling on the timbers was been more painful than either of the blows causing a sharp pain in his side. He was just struggling to his feet as a third blow came impacting with his jaw. He staggered back slightly and barely avoided a fourth by ducking and moving to the side. He shook his head slightly to clear it and tried to see what had happened. He had heard a gun go off just as he was hit. Stupid really, he had been more expecting Arkette to move before Gafford had, the man still had looked unsteady on his feet. Apparently not though. He was advancing on Reno like a cat advancing on a mouse. Reno didn't have time to play with the man, he needed to get over to Dallen to see what had happened. He knew that Dallen was down and Arkette was not. Apparently Reno's shot had missed entirely. He really wasn't used to handling guns all that often. And he sure as hell hadn't counted on Arkette opening fire on Dallen, not with Reno's gun pressed up to the back of his head. Why the hell hadn't Dallen disarmed Arkette before going for his own weapon? Arkette had been right in front of him!

Dodging another of Gafford's intended blows, Reno stepped to the side and threw out a kick designed to fold the Turk in half. It worked well enough, but not as well as hoped. Gods, was this guy numb to pain?

Arkette looked up from the fallen man he was standing over, "Gafford stop playing with him and end it."

Well Reno wasn't so sure it was that easy. Gafford had hit him while he had been stumbling or distracted. And not once while Reno had been ready. The man wasn't quick and whatever the guy was on, his pupils were almost swallowing his iris', it wasn't helping his speed and focus any. Hopping back at the next thrown punch, Reno darted in, grabbed his wrist, spun, and planted his elbow in the man's solar plexus. No matter how drug fucked the man was, it'd make him fight for breath. And it did. Gafford's eyes bulged as Reno spun away again before returning with a punch to his head that knocked his head sideways. Gafford fell and Reno was running toward Arkette before the other Turk had hit the ground. The element of surprise was gone though and Arkette bought his gun up before Reno had gotten within any sort of fighting range. Weirdly enough, he didn't fire immediately giving Reno enough time to look down at Dallen. Red blossomed over the left breast of Dallen's white shirt. A lot of red actually. But Reno could still see the faint rise and fall of Dallen's chest.

"I'm actually impressed." Arkette told him, making Reno eyes dart back up to meet those of the icy eyed Turk. "Mind you, I hadn't really expected anything at all from you so I wouldn't take the compliment too seriously."

"Considering your idea of talent," Reno shot back inclining his head slightly to where he could hear Gafford painfully getting back to his feet behind him, "I wouldn't have."

Dallen's gun lay just in front of his boots. He ducked down to grab it mere seconds before Arkette's gun went off for the second time. Telling himself he was lucky and fighting off the moment of shock at escaping being shot, he snatched up Dallen's gun rolling to the side in case Arkette chose to take a second shot at him. Arkette was just bringing his weapon around when Reno bought up his newly acquired one to point at Arkette.

Gafford was staggering over toward his partner and well away from Reno this time, a fact Reno made sure of this time, and was still weaponless himself.

"What are you planning to do?" Arkette asked coldly, "Arrest us both and take us in? You aren't a Turk yet boy. Who do you think the President will believe after this one," Arkette kicked Dallen casually, "is dead? I doubt even Tseng will take your side when he finds out you were responsible for his partner's death."

Reno was trying to make his expression bare, but something must have shown.

"Tseng really has no idea you're both here does he?"

Reno thought about lying, but it was a bit late for that. Arkette already knew. Dimly, Reno could hear the distant sounds of sirens. Somebody must have heard the shots, as rare as the chance was. Still with the amount of gunfire, he could hardly be surprised. Arkette must have heard it too. He motioned for Gafford to go out the side door without taking his eyes or gun off Reno.

"Yes, I'm sure Tseng will be very upset to learn that you killed his partner."

Reno didn't respond. What could he say? That Tseng wouldn't believe Arkette? Maybe, maybe not. They hadn't exactly parted on the best terms the last time they had talked. Reno had still been pissed at his treatment and his set of glowing blue mako eyes. And besides, Dallen wasn't dead yet.

Arkette started backing out the door after Gafford. The sirens were getting closer.

"You might want to run as well slum rat. And if I were you, I'd keep running."

Then Arkette was out the door as well. Reno gave ideas to chasing him down but rejected the idea. They were two and he was one. And he needed to see to Dallen. Keeping himself facing the door, he knelt by Dallen's side and quickly felt for a pulse. At his touch, Dallen's eyes fluttered half open and tried to focus on Reno. His pulse was very weak.

"I can think of ten people I'd rather have here with me at the moment Peaches," He told Reno in between his attempts to get more air into his lungs.

"Aw, don't get too sappy on me Dallen." Reno said, trying to force some amusement, sarcasm or /something/ into his voice other than what he was really feeling, "You aren't dead yet."

"But I'm glad you are here instead. Tseng's always been better at picking people than me and I trust his judgment. More than I trust mine. You can tell him I was wrong about you." Dallen's left arm moved slightly, dragging his nightstick closer and tried to hand Reno the weapon. "Tell him that I think he's not so insane after all."

Dallen's eyes flickered closed after that as if the strength needed to talk had been too much for him.

"C'mon Dallen, help's coming." Reno went on stubbornly, "Damnit you're not dead! Open your fucking eyes!"

Dallen, of course, didn't listen.

Closing his own eyes, Reno fumbled for a pulse but didn't find any. Getting to his unsteady feet Reno was mildly startled to find himself gripping the cool metal of Dallen's nightstick in an almost painful white knuckled grip. Without thinking, he slid the weapon underneath his belt at his hip. 

The sirens were almost on him now.

He knew that he couldn't stay. He was a guy from the Slums who would be found with the dead body of one of the Shinra elite. He should follow Arkette's advice and run, but he was having difficulties making his feet move. He managed it finally, tucking his gun away, Dallen's gun away, he made for the side door.

After one more look at the body, he stepped out into the night and started running. 

***

Notes: Told you this one would be longer. Perhaps its fate that this chapter's word count ended up being 6,666 without my added notes at the end. Or at least it was at the end of the first draft. For those of you who knew this was coming, well, you knew. For the rest of you who aren't used to my tendency of killing off my original characters I guess I owe you an apology. Dallen I know was a much loved character of this series, of mine as well, but he was created with the intention of killing off. Necessity I'm afraid. You can see why I kept the appearance of Dallen's nightstick secret till now, cause I thought it might give it away a little. Neway, Dallen is dead, but never forgotten. 

I had thought of doing another fic, this one centered around Tseng that would take place before this one and have a history of the Turks before from Vincent Valentine to Reno. Or even the Turks from the very beginning. A kind of prequel to this one, but I hadn't decided. I didn't think it would be very popular seeing as the only characters you're likely to really recognize out of the game are Vincent, Tseng, Rufus etcetera. I had also thought about opening it up and giving it different authors to write a Turk of your own bit. But hey, we'll see. If any of these ideas interest, please e-mail me, it's the only way I'll know which way to decide.

_But back to the story; So Arkette will blame Dallen's death on Reno huh? That'll suck. Not to mention they didn't exactly succeed in stopping the plot for whatever is going to happen in three nights time. Jeez, well you'll just have to keep reading to find out if Tseng'll believe Reno or try and get revenge for Dallen. This is turning into a dark kinda soap opera ain't it?_

_Don't flame me over Dallen's death, I'm just as sad as you. *Sniff* I miss him already._

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All my stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Insanity awaits, join the mailing list._


	10. Bad Feelings

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 10 By AF & Ace 

Special Thanks to Acelynd for helping me and using her fabulous

 writing skills to give my beloved Turk's death added weight. 

Bad Feelings.

          Tseng hated the out of town trips the Turks were frequently made to go on. This one especially seeing as he had been told to pass on news of his upcoming promotion to the Mayor while he was there. Heidiggar have given him specific instructions on that. Just so the next time he went to Kalm he was treated with the proper respect that was due to someone of his rank. That thought alone made Tseng want to laugh. As if the Mayor of Kalm didn't treat each and every Turk with the utmost respect anyway. Kalm was stationed way too close to Midgar to want to be rude to any of Shinra's tough guys. Especially a group such as the Turks who were known on occasion to take matters into their own hands when faced with something unsavory. Not entirely true, but yet another one of those handy rumors that kept most people wary of them. Tseng was loathed to admit it, but it was easier dealing with people who were more than a little afraid of you.

          Apart from that, his trip to Kalm had been uneventful. The candidate that lived there was all too happy to pack up his belongings and move to Midgar to enroll in the Soldier program. No fuss, no hassles. He had already been dropped off at the barracks downtown and had seemed to settle in nicely after no more than five minutes in his new home. He preferred when things went so smoothly for a change, but it was a little boring. And such the pessimist that Tseng was, he also believed that not everything ever stayed smooth. That somehow something complicated would rear its head very shortly just to get him back for his easy time in Kalm. He half expected to get back to Midgar to learn that Reno had skipped town, three of the reactors had blown up, Rufus Shinra had been kidnapped and Dallen had retired to join a traveling circus. Nothing less might have eased his mind. At least he was more assured of the unlikeliness of all of that  happening than what his own pessimism told him would. So all in all, he felt pretty calm and relaxed once he got back into Midgar. Perfect winds for landing on the helipad on the roof of the Shinra Tower allowed him a most favorable landing. So as he stepped into the elevator that would take him to the Turk's lounge, and a cup of coffee, he was feeling really rather good. If only that negative dark cloud following him around would leave him alone!

          He breezed into the Turk's lounge without really taking note of any occupants and headed straight toward the welcoming smell of coffee from the coffee maker adjacent to the doorway. Not that he didn't notice that there were three people also in the lounge, but that it just wasn't worth much comment. It wasn't until he was stirring his coffee around with a plastic mixer that it dawned on him that he had yet to be spoken to. At all. Usually Dallen would have said at least four things before he had managed to reach to coffee machine all ranging from what had happened while he was gone to whether he had managed to lay any pretty young village thing while he had been gone. The silence was more unnerving that the questions and comments he might have expected. He could have sworn there had been three sets of eyes intently watching his back while he got his coffee. Turning around slowly he took a casual sip of coffee and finally took in the entire room. There were three people alright. Arkette, Gafford and…Rufus? It was odd enough that Dallen hadn't bothered to meet him up on the helipad as usual. But it seemed he must be out on a job considering his absence. But what was most weird wasn't Dallen's absence, but Rufus' presence. Rufus had once remarked that he would rather shoot himself in the foot with his own shotgun than be locked up in the same room with Arkette and Gafford. 

          All eyes watched him attentively. Perhaps even a little cautiously. Rufus even looked a little concerned. Needless to say, this was not quite the usual welcoming. 

          In the back of his head, that black cloud began to rumble.

          Resolved to not let himself think too negatively, he pretended to ignore them completely. He leant back against the bench that held the coffee machine and quietly sipped his coffee, the picture of calm and patience. After all, if something serious had happened, no doubt they would have told him as soon as he'd appeared. 

          Those watchful eyes never left him. Eventually he had to take a deep breath and ask; "What?"

          Arkette rose from one of the sofas beside Rufus and cast his eyes over to his partner who was perched on the armrest of the sofa opposite. "Gafford, please leave us and see to the office."

          Partner of Arkette, Gafford may have been, but there was never any question as to who was in charge out of the two. Arkette had sponsored him after all, loyalty stated that Gafford should obey him till Arkette left. Gafford though, was hardly a man who usually obeyed silently. In fact he was almost as quick to open his mouth as anyone had been to Hawkly, but this time he merely nodded and shuffled out of the room without a single word. That caused Tseng to raise a questioning eyebrow at the two remaining men. So in the grand scheme of things, Gafford was ranked lowest being the youngest and spent the least time in the ranks, but he was still a Turk. There was little the Turks were not allowed to hear, especially within their own ranks. Of course, that was assuming Gafford didn't already know. He might have been sent out so Arkette could be alone with Tseng. Arkette even looked on the verge of asking Rufus to leave before he thought better of it. Officially the Turks department really had nothing to do with Rufus, but Rufus had begun to think of them more often as his Turks rather than his fathers and overlooked their running more often than Heidiggar did. Arkette could hardly ask the man do to anything he didn't want to and Rufus looked as about determined to stay put as Gafford had been to leave. However it was still surprising that Rufus was the first to speak.

          "There has been an accident." Whatever compassion he had seen in the man's eyes still remained, but the rest of Rufus' face wore a grim set to it.

          That black cloud was preparing to hail.

          "What kind of accident?" Tseng asked still trying not to read into too much. Jumping to conclusions would not help.

          "Rufus." Arkette said the name rather firmly in light of who he was. Hardly any of the Turks seemed able to call the Vice President by his title, regardless how much power he held over them. With the exception of Gafford, they were all older than him. Some by more than a decade.

          Rufus turned his head slightly in Arkette's direction but didn't turn his eyes up to the man now standing beside where he was sitting. Rufus hardly ever bought the Turks down for using his first name, but he made exceptions for Arkette. This time he let it pass though. Apparently something more important was on his mind.

          Tseng's brows creased and he put his coffee cup onto the bench behind him without ever taking his eyes off the two men. "What happened?"

          "Perhaps it wasn't an accident." Rufus seemed to concede.

          "It wasn't." Arkette put in firmly. "I was there in time to see it. It was no accident."

          They hardly gave him a chance to think. Where the hell /was/ Dallen? If something bad enough to upset these two had occurred, he should be here whether he had a mission or not.

          "Perhaps you should sit down Tseng."

          "No." Tseng told Rufus quite firmly, his voice almost causing the young blond man to flinch. "Tell me."

          Whatever reservations Rufus had about telling him, Arkette didn't seem to be suffering from. Tseng was almost relieved. He would have strangled the pair if they kept dancing around like this.

          "Dallen is dead."

          The cloud opened up and it began to pour.

          "What?"

          "Murdered." Arkette continued after a moment. "He gave me a call last night asking for backup at an abandoned building site in sector eight. I'm sorry Tseng but we got there too late. There was nothing we could do."

          Tseng's jaw tightened but he fought to keep the strained expression off his face. Dallen was dead? That couldn't be right. The man had been shot and stabbed so many times he had begun to think that nothing could kill the man. Surely they were mistaken.

          "You're sure?"

          "Very." Arkette responded. At least his fellow Turk sounded sincere in his grief. That was another hint that Arkette was telling the truth. Arkette was hardly grieved over anything anymore. "We tried to follow his attacker but we lost him. When we returned to the scene the police were already there. I told them that we would handle the investigation ourselves of course. But they will keep an eye out for the perpetrator. That is of course if you would rather they were not involved at all. I had to make a decision though."

          Of course with Dallen gone, Tseng's named second once he was promoted, Arkette would have been left in charge. He was surprised that Arkette hadn't made the decision to keep the hunt for the murderer strictly within the Turks. Their department was also well known for wanting their own kind of justice for those who had killed one of their own without the interference of outside forces. But this time Tseng agreed with Arkette's decision. He wanted as many eyes out for the perp as possible. Didn't mean that the Turks wouldn't be able to properly punish the man later on their own terms.

          He almost shook himself when he realized what he was thinking. Gods, his partner of four years was dead and all he could think of was killing the man responsible! Dallen, his partner was dead, and he was thinking like a ruthless killer. For Leviathan's sake, even Arkette appeared more disturbed than him over what had happened. It definitely made him take a second look at Rufus. Dallen and Rufus had been quite close buddies and shared a similar sense of humor. Despite Rufus' attempts to look as stone faced as a Turk, he did look truly shaken. Though he still looked more concerned for Tseng than anyone. Tseng had to wonder what his own face showed despite /his/ best efforts.

          "You made the right decision." Tseng responded finally. His voice sounded too flat and hollow to his ears. 

          "We have a serious problem Tseng." Rufus said almost wearily leaning back into the sofa. "We have a determined Turk killer on the loose and I'm not sure what the President will do when he finds out the particulars. "

          "We've managed to keep a couple of things back. But when he finds out that not only did we have this Turk killer in our hands, but we trained him and let him go, we may be in for some trouble."

          It took a moment for Tseng to catch onto what the two were telling him. "Reno did this?"

          Rufus nodded solemnly. "Both Arkette and Gafford saw him do it. And while you can't pin Hawkly's death on him directly, you can sure as hell say he was involved. Of course the President doesn't know this either. But we can't keep it from him forever. My advice is that you deal with this boy soon before the old man catches up on his facts and sees that the killer is still running around."

          "If we can avoid it, he will never have to know." Arkette informed them both. The solemn comment was almost enough to make Tseng blink at his co-worker. All along it had been 'we' instead of 'you', when the whole disaster was clearly Tseng's fault. Arkette was ever going so far as to suggest lying to the President to help Tseng out.

          "If he asks you, you will answer him honestly." Tseng told Arkette firmly. Well he wasn't leader yet, but since news of his promotion had come through, he had been as good as.

          Arkette looked about to argue before Tseng shot him a firm glare that made him obediently shut his mouth. "As you wish."

          After a moments more hesitation Tseng turned to Rufus. "May I have a moment to talk to Arkette?"

          Under normal circumstances, Rufus might have been affronted by the suggestion. However, as with Gafford, Rufus simply nodded and got to his feet. He pat Tseng's shoulder on the way out but didn't over any further words or gestures. Time for remembrances would come later with a few close friends and a couples of bottles of Dallen's expensive drink of choice.

          When Rufus had gone, Tseng allowed his mask to slip a little. 

          "I appreciate your help on this." Tseng told the other man frankly.

          Arkette nodded. "I and Dallen may have had our differences, but I won't deny that he was a good man and an extraordinary Turk. He was one of us, and he will be avenged." Very matter of fact, but Tseng didn't mind in the least. He stepped forward and clapped Tseng on the shoulder much the same way as Rufus had before looking Tseng straight in the eye. "And I will not let that boy jeopardize any more of my team, regardless. /We/ will deal with this. All three of us."

          Tseng was almost shocked to see a rather warm smile spread across the other man's face before he moved away and began heading for the door seemingly intent to give Tseng some private time. Arkette really hadn't always been an asshole. He had really only begun to be unbearable after he had lost a long standing partner of his own quite a few years ago now.

          Tseng spoke before the other Turk could step out of the door. "I appreciate you not saying 'I told you so.' Though I definitely deserve it."

          "I think you will go through enough on your own to make you feel guilty." Arkette told him. "I do not need to add to it."

          Once Arkette was gone Tseng stared at the carpet for a very long time while the black cloud poured relentlessly.

*************

          Elena opened her mouth to speak, but was again cut off by the arguing men in front of her. Instead of trying to speak over the top of them she set her features to look patient to hide the scowl she knew she would be wearing otherwise. She should have realized that trying to get in a word when these two were talking business was next to impossible. Randy and Greon both. Both were only slightly older than her, and both thought they knew ten times more about Junon and Midgar than her. If they'd bothered to listen to her at all, they'd realize how wrong they were.

          Resigned to being ignored, Elena cast her eyes around the lounge till her eyes rested on the windows that looked out onto the street. She had hoped to see the sun. Oh there was a distinct brightness to the daylight, but she couldn't help thinking that the sun never truly shined here in Midgar. It wasn't even close to Junon's sunlight, and seemed almost like early dusk sometimes in comparison. 

          "Elena, you're not listening."

          Her head jerked around to face her two companions who were looking at her expectantly. Randy was wearing an expression close to irritation. He really was beginning to get annoying these days.

          "Sorry, what were you talking about?" 

          Randy snorted. "She doesn't even understand, I told you."

          Elena felt like snarling at them both. She would have been paying attention if they weren't the rudest most annoying boys she knew! 

          Where was Reeve anyway? At least he kept her in the conversation and wasn't constantly talking over her. He had gone on an errand or something earlier and said he wouldn't get back until late. He had been doing that often lately and she suspected it was as much to get away from these two and their parental equivalents than the need for any real errands to be run. She would have given anything to go with him, but he always left the hotel early and she never managed to catch him. Gods knew her own father would never let her wander around by herself without an escort in Midgar. That was enough to infuriate her further. Reeve's father sent him off all the time it seemed and he wasn't /all/ that much older than her. He sure as Hades couldn't defend himself in a fight any better. Though she conceded that wasn't saying much.

          As if thinking about her brother had summoned her, Reeve's younger sister Samantha flowed into the lounge casting her eyes around, looking for someone. Flowed was really the only word for it. She had a grace and beauty that seemed to make men around her go slacked jawed and dry-mouthed. When Elena had first met her, she had intended to /not/ make friends with the girl. Nobody that looked like Samantha usually had anything but snide comments and nasty looks for Elena as if she wasn't what they considered up to their lofty standards and therefore unworthy of their friendship. But Samantha apparently wasn't like that. Elena had tried to hate her, but the girl was too nice to hate. They actually got along pretty well when the girl wasn't trying to set her up with her brother. Oh it wasn't as if Reeve wasn't nice enough for her tastes. He sure beat a lot of the other guys out for brains and warmth. But she despised being set up. And even though Samantha knew that, it didn't seem to stop her any in her intentions. Their father apparently had his eye on Isabelle Parker for him anyway. She was one of those beautiful but wholly obnoxious girls Elena couldn't stand. The problem was, that neither could Samantha nor Reeve.

          Samantha glided over toward Elena causing a moments silence in the boys' conversation. The younger girl flipped her long dark ponytail over her shoulder and proceeded to ignore the boys. Apparently she had been looking for Elena.

          "There is a boy at the desk wanting to see you. The man at the desk won't let him through or send you a message."

          Elena felt like groaning again. She could just guess who it was and why Samantha had come to tell her about it. If Reno was making a scene Samantha would have been intrigued. Besides she really was a nice girl and was probably telling Elena out or courtesy. No doubt it didn't hurt that she could dig at Elena later for details about her odd visitor.

          "Brilliant." Elena muttered standing up from her seat. She didn't bother excusing herself. No doubt the boys wouldn't hear her anyway. Instead her and Samantha set a brisk walk toward the lobby of the hotel and the front desk.

          At first she had thought Samantha had made a terrible mistake. Sure the boy at the front desk looked like a slum rat. But he wasn't her slum rat. Reno was much shorter and a little leaner than this boy. Not to mention Reno had short red hair rather than blond.

          "Who is he?" Samantha asked from beside her. "He's rather cute isn't he?"

          That he was. But that didn't change the fact that he wasn't Reno. The boy turned away from the desk man long enough to see Elena striding toward him an immediately began to smile. Elena remembered him now. This was Reno's friend from last night. It still didn't explain what he was doing here. 

          Coming up to the desk she smiled at the man behind it and said; "It's okay Pete. I know him."

          Pete still scowled, but finally he relented and let Elena lead her guest further into the lobby, Samantha still at her heels. They had barely gotten away from the desk though when the boy spoke up.

          "Have you seen Reno?"

          Elena wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but this wasn't it. 

          "Not since last night." Elena replied carefully. She immediately regretted it though when she saw the silly grin on Samantha's face. "Has something happened?"

          Tarran, that was his name, sighed and frowned. "He didn't come back last night. I thought he might have made a return trip to see you, you know."

          "No he didn't come back." Tarran looked very worried though. "This can't be the first time he's spent the night out though."

          "No. Of course not. But he's uh, a little involved in something right now. With the Turks. He should've come back. Something must have happened."

          "He's in trouble with the Turks?" Samantha asked incredulously. Not that she could have an idea who Reno was, but she sure knew who the Turks were. Everybody did.

          "Not in trouble. Well, not really. Well, not with most of them." A pause. "Two of them." Surprisingly, the presence of Samantha didn't seem to effect Tarran. He seemed much too worried about Reno to be bothered by a beautiful girl.

          "Is there anywhere you haven't checked?" His concern was already beginning to rub off on her.

          "Not really." Tarran admitted. "You were kinda my last hope."

          She would have been stupid not to read into that. In other words, not only might Reno have come back to the hotel, but she was also someone in a better position than him to perhaps ask around about him. Well he was in for a shock. She was the daughter of a builder. Not a high ranking Shinra executive. She was as likely to have any questions answered by the Turks as she was able to track Reno down with the power of her mind. Something did occur to her though.

          "Samantha, do you any idea where your brother is?"

          Samantha blinked at Elena before answering; "No. Why?"

          "I know he has all that computer equipment for a reason."

          "Oh no," Samantha began, "you can't be thinking of getting into Shinra computers. For one thing it's next to impossible. For another," Samantha dropped her voice considerably here, "it's highly illegal. Unless you want to ask a Turk face to face where this Reno is that is. Because I can assure you that one will be after you if you try to break into their files."

          Elena smiled slowly at the girl. "How do you know how impossible it is?"

          Samantha swallowed thickly and proceeded to look very guilty. "I have no idea Elena."

*

          "This is a very bad idea." Samantha repeated for maybe the sixth time since they had managed to get into Reeve's room, thanks to Tarran's 'skills'.  Tarran closed the door softly behind the trio and looked around the room with obvious awe. 

          "Pretty nice." 

          Elena wasn't really paying attention to Reno's friend though, and was much more interested in Samantha. "I know it is. But if he's in trouble, they're records should show it."

          "Provided they've filed their mission reports on the system by now." Samantha said weakly dropping into the swivel chair that had been set up in front of the dining table. The whole dining area in fact looked like some hastily set up workstation with no less than two laptops, three large humming boxes, stacks of CD's and folders overflowing with papers covering every other available area on the small dining table. This was the reason why Reeve's personal baggage always managed to weigh more than his sister's and his father's combined and also why, when he wasn't attending to business for his father or out on various errands, he was always locked up in his room working on this or that. The setup would have been really rather impressive, had Elena known what she was looking at.  Evidently Samantha did though and went about switching on various things even as she kept up her protests. "It was only last night that he disappeared you said. They may not have gotten around to updating their files yet."

          "You sound like you know a lot about Shinra files." Elena said a little suspiciously.

          Samantha colored slightly, "It's not like I make a habit of this. And nor does my brother." She added hastily seeing Elena open her mouth. "And you can be sure that he'll go berserk if he finds out that I'm doing this."

          "Reeve doesn't  go berserk." Elena reminded her patiently, "He would never even raise his voice to you if you didn't talk right over him half the time."

          "Still, you should wait for him. He really does know more about this than me. All I know is what he taught me. And he never does anything like this, he just plays games occasionally to see if he can crack a code or something."

          Reeve /would/ play a game like that, Elena realized. Try and break a challenging code, not for any malicious reason, just to see if he could.

          Tarran was still wandering around the various rooms looking impressed. He was no help. She had to beat down the impression that Reeve might return home tonight minus a few valuables. Irritably, she ignored that line of thinking. She felt bad for thinking that just because Tarran wasn't one of the well-off.

          "Yes, but it isn't a game this time. His life may depend on this." She didn't know that, and it was probably overdramatising the situation. But the Turks were nothing to be taken lightly.

          With a reluctant nod, Samantha took a deep breath before turning completely toward the screen of the closest computer. The other computer screen looked like it was doing nothing, but she assumed Samantha had turned it on for a reason. 

          "That will tell us if there are any active tracking programs online. If it finds any, I'll have to stop searching no matter what. I'm sure their computers are faster than ours and they'll find us if I don't quit."

          Elena nodded, managing to follow that easy enough. It wasn't until she stood behind Samantha and watched reams and reams of gibberish fly passed that she became a little lost. More than a little. It had taken Samantha no time at all to make the Shinra diamond logo flash up on the screen, but after that it had been nothing but white numbers and letters on a blank black screen.

          "This could take a while." Samantha admitted after she made her sixth irritated noise at her apparent failure and Elena had settled back onto one of the couches for a long wait. After an hour or so Tarran came over to join her on the sofa letting out a bored sigh. 

          "He'll be alright." Elena tried to sound reassuring.

          "I know. He usually is."

          "How do you mean?"

          For a second Tarran blinked up at her as if unaware that he had spoken out loud. Finally he answered, "Reno has a way of getting himself into shitty situations. But he also has a way of getting out of shitty situations. Doesn't mean that he usually manages it in one piece though. And I know he's landed himself in something /really/ shitty this time. I can feel it."

          Elena was about to question him more, when Samantha suddenly interrupted with a delighted; "I'm in!"

          Elena and Tarran sprang to their feet and came over to stand behind the girl just in time to see the Shinra logo dissolve and a directory resolve itself on the screen.

          "Try to get into the Turks files." Tarran urged.

          Samantha took another deep breath and began typing. A moment later she said; "There is a main system for Turk files and ones individually. Which do you want?"

          "Individual." Tarran responded without hesitation. "Tseng's first."

          "A moment." Samantha responded. Then, "Wow, he's going to be promoted."

          "We knew that." Tarran interrupted. "Look for anything on Reno."

          "No files like that. But there is one labled; Candidate."

          "That could mean anything." Elena pointed out. "The Turks recruit candidates for their army's elite don't they?"

          But Tarran only shook his head. "No, that's it."

          Dutifully, Samantha opened the file and began to read over the notes. Elena was going to read them as well, but something on the other screen caught her notice. "Um, what does that little red dot mean?"

          Samantha turned her eyes to the other screen in alarm before her fingers began to rapidly beat the keyboard once more. "It's a tracking program. I need to get out of this."

          She continued to type muttering a few oaths that sounded very bizarre coming out of the girl's mouth for a good five minutes while the pulsating red dot on the other screen continued its warning. Reams of data accompanied the red dot, but Elena found it just as confusing as anything she had seen on either of the screens today. "I can't get out of it!" Samantha said in a very worried tone.

          If Elena's nerves weren't already taught with worry and apprehension, she figured her heart would have at least leapt into her throat at the sound of Samantha's voice. But it did a moment later when she heard the doorknob on the other side of the room rattle and then open. And she didn't calm down much either when she saw who it was.

          "Why is- what is-why are you-who is that?" Reeve finally managed to settle his eyes on the one person he didn't recognize in his room rather than the streams of questions he seemed to want to ask. He was confused and surprised, nothing more. But he soon picked up on the tension in the room. Especially when he spotted his sister sitting open-mouthed in front of one of his computers, not to mention the insistent red dot on the other screen. "Sam, what have you done?" /That/ was almost weary.

          "I was only trying to help!" Samantha told him vehemently.

          Still very calm, and looking more resigned than anything, Reeve motioned for his sister to move before taking the seat himself. "Where are we?"

          "In Shinra." Samantha replied meekly.

          A raised eyebrow at his sister and nothing more before he turned completely back to the computer screen and started up where she apparently left off. It all lasted about a minute before the little dot stopped pulsing and Reeve swiveled around in the chair and fluidly got to his feet. Apparently he had stopped any impending disasters and was now only interested in answers. Elena started to feel very guilty. The poor guy looked almost asleep on his feet. And had come back to his rooms to find his sister and two other people had broken in to do illegal and dangerous things with his prized equipment. It was enough to make Reeve's usually diffident almost meek nature flee him entirely. First he fixed his eyes on the strange man standing behind the couch where Elena and Samantha were seated. 

          Tarran's arms were folded across his chest and he almost looked as composed as Reeve did. "Tarran." He introduced himself simply.

          "Reeve." Reeve replied. Once the odd male exchange was completed he apparently lost all interest in Tarran and focused on his sister.

          Samantha squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "I told them it was a bad idea." She muttered.

          Next came Elena. She offered a weak smile. "It was my idea." He had obviously come to the same conclusion and didn't look very moved by her admission. He waited patiently. "There is a very good explanation for this."

          "I'm sure there is." Reeve responded. When Reeve wanted to, he could assume a commanding tone that was hard to ignore. Probably because he didn't do it very often.

          "We have a friend that is in trouble." Elena began carefully, shooting a significant look toward Samantha. Reeve didn't need to know too much. She felt bad enough about drawing his sister into all of this. Reeve saw the look, but didn't appear at all interested in its meaning. However patient he looked, he also looked content to get all explanations over with as quickly as possible. "We had fears that something terrible may have happened to him."

          "With Shinra." Reeve added himself, his voice full of skepticism. 

          "It's a long story." Tarran replied helpfully. 

          Reeve sighed, definitely drained, and resumed his seat in front of his computer. "What does he look like?"

          No more than twenty minutes later all the three of them were shooed out of Reeve's rooms by the man himself, Elena clutching a single sheet of white paper in her hand that Reeve had not even bothered to look at before thrusting it into her hands. Tarran, with something of a penitent expression handed a few coins and a couple of CD cases back to Reeve along the way.  Elena was just turning to thank the man before the door slammed heavily in front of her. To say Reeve was mad wasn't an issue. He wasn't really. It took a lot to make him angry. He was merely tired and out of patience with everything in general. Elena knew him enough to recognize that. But she also had a random thought that she would no longer have to worry about Samantha's delusions regarding setting the two of them up. 

          "What does it say?" Tarran asked from Elena's side.

          Elena sighed and finally took the chance to read what Reeve had given her. Instead of a Shinra file, it bore a logo in the corner with the letters M-P-D across it. And while it stated no names as such, it did make mention of a man perfectly fitting Reno's description. Elena's brow creased as she read.

          "It's a warrant for his arrest." She replied with a confused expression. She had expected some news that he had been injured or perhaps captured. Even dead. But as she read further all the color drained from her face. "He's wanted for murder." Elena told them raising her eyes to meet Tarran's. "He killed a Turk named Samuel Dallen."

********

          Tseng watched as Rufus re-filled his glass with the potent amber liquor from the bottle along with everyone else's glasses. Tseng hardly ever drank enough to cause him to stumble, and for the second time in a month, he found himself doing just that. He had for Hawkly as tradition went, and he did now for Dallen. Only this time was the first time in many years that he had actually wanted to get himself into that stumbling state of numbness and found that he wasn't succeeding. Rufus looked adequately buzzed, as did Gafford. But only Arkette and he seemed to show no signs that the alcohol was effecting them at all. 

          Rufus almost missed his mark with his own glass because of a laugh that burst out at his latest remembrance of the late Turk. 

          "I still can't believe he did that!"

          Nobody else could either. But that was most probably because Rufus hadn't explained what he was laughing over yet.

          "First day on the job." Rufus reminded settling back in his seat with his glass, a wide smile planted on his face.

          "What did he do?" Gafford asked, surprisingly interested after seeing the small smile tick the corner of Arkette's mouth. 

          "From Midgar he may have been, but he wasn't all that knowing of the higher ups in the company. The man is here for the first day wearing navy and it happens to be on my birthday."

          "All of twenty six years of age." Arkette put in taking a sip from his glass. The comment could have added, 'and full of himself even then', but Tseng got the impression it was for him alone. He nodded slightly in understanding but Rufus went on as if he hadn't heard the tone. 

          "Of course though, the night before Dallen had already gone out drinking to celebrate his acceptance into the Turks. Even then he had a liver of steel and could spend an entire night drunk as a skunk and not pass out, throw up or anything. And that was exactly how he was on his first day. Still drunk as all hell, had no sleep and given a uniform, a gun and a security card for the entire building. And so begins Dallen's drunken pilgrimage throughout the entire building."

          Tseng couldn't help the small smile at the memory. Tseng himself had already been a twenty two year veteran of the Turks by the time Dallen was accepted. Dallen was to be the fifth Turk to be added to the roster which already included Tseng, Arkette, Hawkly and of course Dallen's sponsor who was Tseng's partner till this point. But with the coming of Dallen, Tseng lost his partner of some two decades who had, by tradition decided to partner with his hand trained Turk, Dallen. Tseng remembered how annoyed he had been at his partner's decision regardless of tradition, and how he was being replaced by such an undisciplined drunkard such as Dallen. The new Turk had immediately soured in Tseng's view for that alone whether he had been responsible for what had happened or not. He had not been of course. But Tseng had still been sour about it all. Especially since his new partner became Arkette. And here was the recruit who had given Tseng every impression throughout his training that he was nothing but and disobedient, foul-mouthed young man who had a distorted view of everything the Turks were. But his sponsor, Tseng's partner, had confided to Tseng that he felt that this young man was exactly what the Turks needed. Any spark of compassion had been stamped out of Arkette a long time ago, Hawkly, he was sure, was leader due to some sick joke in higher management and he claimed that Tseng was becoming much too serious in his work. The Turks needed something like Dallen to gain perspective again. It sounded good in theory, but the only sick joke Tseng could see being played out was the one his partner was pulling by admitting Dallen. Maybe he had thought differently soon after his partner had retired and Dallen became his new partner. But one never truly did know if the man had been telling the truth or whether it was something else. Like Dallen had remarked himself not a week ago in the offices, Rankin never really did take his job seriously.

          He didn't that day that was for sure. The day that his star pupil went on a drunken rampage through the building with a rumpled Turks uniform on, a half empty bottle of whiskey in hand, and according to all the surveillance tapes of that day, carrying on a conversation with an imaginary chocobo named Greg. In many ways, Reno had reminded Tseng of that young new Turk named Dallen. Tseng frowned at the thought and tried to refocus on the story Rufus was telling. He had missed a fair portion of it by now though.

          "So with half of the building already pissed at the guy, not to mention the mighty Sephiroth threatening to slice his head off, he wanders up to the executive floor, into the middle of the board meeting. After 'watering' the plastic potted plant in the corner, he offers Greg a drink, who of course is imaginary so the bottle gets tipped onto /my/ lap, before he climbs onto the conference table, curls up and starts snoring."

          Rufus chuckled again, even Gafford was laughing. Arkette was smiling, a big feat for him considering. Only Tseng was not. It was a funny story, and one he remembered well, the Turks had been present at that meeting. But the smile he forced was false. When Rufus had settled down enough, he added the last bit to the story. 

          "And of course, this snide bastard here," Rufus went on jerking a thumb in Tseng's direction, "smirked at the whole thing while Rankin was laughing his ass off and said, 'Happy Birthday Mr. Vice President. May I present Samuel Dallen, newest member of the Turks.'" 

          Tseng was surprised Arkette found the story funny at all. Tseng remembered the man being so angry at the time that he had nearly drowned the new Turk in a washroom sink trying to get him to sober up after he and Hawkly had to physically haul him off the conference table. But Arkette was smiling now. They were supposed to be laughing and remembering these times in such circumstances true, but it still seemed a little odd. This was perhaps the tenth remembered classic Dallen moment, and Arkette had smiled at all of them. 

          Abruptly, Tseng picked up his glass and held it up, his somber mood quieted all laughter

          "To Dallen," Tseng said simply. This was tradition as well.

          "Friend." Rufus intoned raising his glass.

          "Great drinker." Gafford offered, probably in light of the latest story.

          Arkette didn't hesitate, but he kept his eyes on Tseng as much as Tseng did on him. "Always dependable."

          "Honest." Tseng finished.

          The four of them repeated Dallen's name a clicked glasses where they could before finishing whatever was left in their respective glasses. Rufus was solemn, Gafford was informal about it but serious. Arkette's expression made him look grieved, but the expression didn't touch his eyes. To Tseng, his eyes still seemed to be smiling just that little bit.

*******************

Notes: Woah, another big chapter huh? I really am packing in all the stuff now. Probably because I want to get passed certain things as quickly as possible. But I still don't think I dealt with everything I wanted to have done by chapter 11. This has turned a little more serious than what it was before, I will admit. But I knew that Dallen's death would be a serious point in the fic so I have to deal with it. I also wanted to. I liked Dallen damnit! Okay, so no sign of Reno so far. That was done of purpose, sorry guys. Reno has disappeared but should remerge soon enough.

_          So, there was really no point to a lot of things I added to this chapter spur of the moment. In fact the only things planned out were Tseng's return and the drinking later on. That whole Elena/Tarran/Samantha/Reeve bit was pure spur of the moment driveling bullshit that I was tempted to cut altogether. Perhaps I subconsciously wrote it so Tarran and Elena would know what was happening. That was clever of me if that was the case. I suspect though that it was more my subconscious missing Reeve in a fic that did it though. Enjoyable none the less anyway. (btw, the names Samantha and Samuel was accidental usage of the name Sam. I didn't realize till I had already gotten used to calling them by those names. And of course by then, it was already too late. I was hooked on them) _

_          Reno is still on the run, Tarran is trying to find him, and so is Tseng. Though I fear for very different reasons._

_          Be prepared to be amazed_

_          AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_Stories achieved on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Mailing list, fics, pics, links, and the place where insanity is a real character, The Shinra Building._

_If you want to contact Ace;_

_acelynd@excite.com_


	11. Leap Of Faith

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 11 By AF & Ace 

Leap Of Faith.

          Tseng unlocked his door and went through the motions of stripping off his tie and jacket while making a bee-line to the phone by his desk across the other side of the room. Usually he had an array of interesting messages waiting for him and tonight was no exception. Finger poised above the button with the blinking red light, he hesitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what was on the tape, fearing that Heidigar or the President had found out about their new Turk candidate and his latest activities. Tseng wasn't even sure if he himself wanted to know about it. Throughout the entire day he had been plagued by this feeling. Not guilt as he supposed he should have felt. But rather an unidentifiable feeling that he couldn't understand. A feeling of wrong. That was the only description. And it hadn't eased any better as the day had progressed and almost swamped him later during their toasts to Tseng's late partner. 

          The whole notion that Dallen could have fallen to Reno should have been ludicrous. But it wasn't. Reno was talented, that much was true. More so now after his added training by Shinra. The truth was that Reno was more than capable of killing any one of the Turks if he set his mind to it. Dallen hadn't had a head for strategy, and might have easily been led into a trap such as Arkette had proposed. And skill counted for nothing against a bullet shot at an unwary target. But that was just where the uneasy, wrong feeling stemmed from. Despite everything he was meant to believe. Everything in front of him. It just didn't feel /right/.

          Leaving the light blinking, Tseng went ahead and dumped his traveling bag on his bed in his bedroom  The room was dark. Most were in the apartment apart from a lamp in other room by his desk. That suited Tseng fine. He was in a dark kind of mood.

          His head was a little fuzzy from his earlier drinking, but he felt no other effects. Not even alcohol had been able to dim his thinking enough to make the feeling go away. Something he was extremely ungrateful for. Leaving his bag, he headed toward the kitchen and his beloved coffee maker that awaited him there. Coffee might clear his head of any remaining fuzz so he could catch up on the paperwork he had neglected for the most of the day. It had to be done anyway and he was under the impression that trying to get some sleep tonight would probably be a fruitless endeavor anyway. He might as well do something constructive with his time. It was a far better alternative to laying sleepless in bed with nothing but his thoughts that was for sure.

          Leaving the coffee machine to its business he went back into the main room and back over to his desk. There he flipped on his computer and again hesitated over the blinking button on his answering machine. This time it wasn't indecision that made him dither over it. Facing toward the light white curtains that covered the glass behind his desk, glass panels that flanked the double set of sliding doors to his balcony, he saw something that should not have been. At the edge of the curtain, where the moonlight streamed in through the fractional gap, the curtain moved almost inceptively as if moved by a very light breeze.

Distraction lasted only a moment when he heard a very faint sound behind him. Spinning, he caught the intruder in the ribs with his elbow before driving his would be attacker into the wall behind him, knocking his breath out and disallowing him to take more by clamping a hand around his neck to hold him still. By the dim light of the singular lamp behind him, he was able to make the person out well enough to recognize him, but that didn't make him loosen his hold. Nothing short of the room exploding could have caused that. And even then it mightn't have had much of an effect.

          Reno was gasping with the choking grip, his hands on Tseng's wrist as if to force the hand away. But he didn't. He just stood there on his toes to make up for the couple of inches height difference and tried to keep his eyes open and locked on Tseng's face. He was obviously trying to say something, but Tseng would let him take in the breath to say it. 

          While Reno choked for breath, Tseng thought furiously. Was he just going to strangle the boy in his apartment, or was he going to allow him to try and explain himself? He wanted to strangle him, that was for sure. He idly wondered if Reno would let him do it without trying to fight back. He wasn't at the moment, even though his face was more than a little red. If he waited too much longer he might not have the strength to fight back anyway. Not that he could have loosed Tseng's hold on him if he tried. Tseng was well aware of how fierce his face must look, felt the snarl curve his lips. But his face never reflected a tenth of what he was truly feeling. Inside he was seething.

          Time was running out. He had to decide.

          Relaxing his hold just barely enough to allow Reno to take a quick shallow breath, Tseng lent in closer to his captive a said in a fierce whisper; "Say the name Sam Dallen."

          Reno looked at the man slowly choking him in confusion.

          "Say it!" Tseng demanded harshly.

          Reno took in a new ragged breath and managed to gasp the name just as Tseng tightened his grip once more.

          "Sam Dallen!"

          There it was. But it wasn't his voice Tseng had been paying attention to. It had been his eyes. Sadness, regret, frustration all of them flashed through his eyes in seconds. But not what Tseng had been looking for. Abruptly Tseng totally released his hold and Reno slid down the wall to land in a gasping heap on his knees before Tseng. He rubbed his throat where Tseng could see the already very red imprint of his hand and fixed Tseng with a defiant glare. Tseng paid no attention. With a defeated sigh he moved away from Reno and dropped onto the couch, his head in his hands. He was beginning to get a massive headache.

          Reno watched this all from his place on the floor, ensuring to keep glaring at the man, but at the same time surprised at Tseng's reaction. Not the choking, he had been expecting that. More the reaction afterwards. The older man looked weary enough and troubled enough to not move again for a good couple of days. He had the inkling that few people had ever seen the veteran Turk in this state. He wasn't sure whether to be scared or otherwise. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but Tseng beat him to the punch.

          "Are you going to try and tell me that a co-worker of mine for many years lied to me?" It wasn't really a question.

          "No," Reno's voice came out in little more than a croak. He cleared his voice and tried again, "No, I'm going to tell you that this complete asshole that you happen work with killed your partner and blamed it on me."

          Tseng's head came out of his hands and he actually laughed. The laugh sent chills down Reno's spine. 

          "Arkette killed Dallen? Reno, do you suffer from insanity?"

          "I must." Reno answered steadily, leaning back against the wall behind him. "I was there, I saw it. You can still blame me if you want. I /did/ lead him there. But not for killing him. Arkette shot him, not me. You know how useless I am with a gun."

          Tseng's eyes moved to take in Reno's appearance fully. Thankfully that cold mirth was gone. "That doesn't stop you from carrying one I see. Or anything else."

          Self-consciously, Reno's hand went to the nightstick that had fallen from beneath his belt to lay by his feet. "He gave it to me."

          "One of his most prized possessions?" Tseng questioned suspiciously, "I find that hard to believe."

          That comment was enough for Reno's words to die on his tongue. One of Dallen's most prized possessions? And he had given it to Reno as he lay dying?

          "Maybe he wanted me to give it to you. I dunno. He probably wasn't thinking straight at the time."

          "Perhaps you'd better start from the beginning," Tseng suggested wearily, "I'm in the mood for a good story."

          He made it sound like whatever Reno would tell him would be utter fiction. But he went ahead and told the story anyway. When he got to the part where Arkette shot Dallen while the Turk was defenseless on his knees, Tseng's eyes narrowed and he stared at the coffee table in front of him. When he was done all Tseng said was; "Arkette's eyes were smiling. They never liked each other. But he looked pleased."

          "No shit," Reno commented insensitively, "He managed to get rid of two birds with one stone. He got rid of your best supported in the ranks and pin the blame on the recruit you had named to sponsor. It damaged your morale and your hold on the Turks and will make you look like an incompetent dick in front of your bosses."

          This was all speculation on Reno's part. He didn't know if that would be an issue in Shinra or not, but it was common sense to think so. Especially if Arkette assumed Reno would run like he had told him to. This way Arkette could make a show over hunting the infamous Turk killer down himself. Tseng didn't seem to disagree with him either.

          "So what happens now?" Reno asked after a prolonged silence. Reno's only hope had been to get to Tseng and explain himself before Arkette could get into a proper manhunt. And he would too, under the guise of catching a Turk killer.  Already he had seen the effects such a title gave him. It had been okay with Hawkly. Rumor had it pinned on Whitley's men so Reno was kept clear of that. But Arkette had outdone himself in order to get this particular rumor floating about him being responsible for Dallen. He had seen a few people around the city that knew him and all had practically cowered away from him in fear. Whether it was fear of the actual Turk killer himself or the knowledge that the Turks would undoubtedly be hunting him now, Reno was not sure. Whichever it was it resulted in the same thing. Refusals of help followed by quick departures. And he dared not go back to Rankin's. Everybody would recognize him and he wasn't entirely sure what they might do. The only loyalty that lie in that place were by men that shared the cause not men that were there for the money. And Reno didn't exactly fit into the first category. Odds were most of them might decide to hunt him out themselves for bringing the Turks down on them. Arkette might take the advantage and blame Rankin after all. If they believed the rumors, which they had no reason not to knowing Reno, they might also believe that killing Reno would take some of the heat off them as well. Rebel groups weren't suited for open combat against Shinra and they knew it. That had also kept him away from seeking out the only man he knew would help him as well. He wouldn't risk Rankin's to find Tarran, it was out of the question. Oddly enough it had been Rita that first night that had given him a place to wash up and sleep in the shack like dwelling she shared with her husband. Thinking Reno was only another punter he had been able to stay in the house unmolested. Well except for Rita trying to work some business out of him. But that was to be expected. She left him well alone after realizing he didn't have any money. Pity, he had needed a little stress relief.

          Since then he had been all over Midgar practically playing his usual games of cat and mouse with the MPD. The game he used to find amusement in had now become his life though it seemed. After only a day he was tired from running and hiding and he found little enjoyment in his ongoing game.

          He kept telling himself that he had only risked coming back up to the plates to see Tseng merely a chance to make it stop. That he could convince Tseng that he wasn't wholly responsible for Dallen's death and Tseng would fix everything up and let Reno resume his life. Thinking back on it now though, he wasn't sure if that was the entire truth. Tired and worn out he may have been, but he could have standed playing the game for longer. No, instead of finding his own way out of his problems like he usually did, he had picked the first possible moment the Turk would be available to come straighten things out. He was shocked to discover that he didn't want Tseng thinking he had done what Arkette accused him of.  He wouldn't let Arkette have the satisfaction and he wouldn't let Tseng feel the mistake. Reno didn't want to be known as a mistake.

          "What now?" Tseng repeated, "Now I deicide whether you are telling the truth or not." Reno went to protest, but Tseng waved him away, "I might have more readily believed you if you had told me that someone else had killed Dallen and you just happened to be with him when Arkette found you. But this is a little harder to swallow. Arkette openly disliked the both of us, but killing us is a little severe. Even for him."

          "Did Arkette say that he didn't actually see me kill Dallen?" Reno pondered out loud, "I would have imagined he'd go for witnessing the murder to make you believe."

          Tseng gave him a grim smile. "He did. But you didn't know that."

          Great. Tseng was analyzing him.

          "What proof can I give you? Do you think I'd risk coming here if I was lying?"

          "Yes." Tseng answered without hesitation. "But you can give me proof. You said there are men in this plot with Arkette. Find them. Prove it."

          "Shouldn't that be your job?" Reno asked sourly.

          "Normally it would be mine or the Vice-President's. He investigates these things usually. But you are the one that needs to prove this more. Besides, I don't believe you yet. Nor do I totally believe Arkette. You've given me enough doubt, now I want you to prove the truth. I suggest you go home and consult your boss. He can help you."

          "I can't go there." Reno protested, "They'll skin me. Besides it's going to be difficult hunting down these guys when I can't exactly move freely around the city."

          "I'll see to it that Rankin gets you safely. And I'll step down the hunt a little. But I will not call it off. If you are telling the truth, Arkette will get too suspicious. Just find some people that can move around more freely in the places you can't. Use that intelligence of yours for once and drop the brainless act, I haven't bought it once in the time I've known you."

          Reno was just managing to get to his feet when Tseng spoke his final words. "I'm taking a leap of faith with you Reno. If I find out you are lying to me I'll kill you myself in such a way that will make Arkette queasy to watch."

          The weary but cool voice was enough to make Reno believe him on that point.

          "If you break in here again without good reason I'll snap your neck anyway. Now leave. I'm tired and you have work to do."

          Reno gave him a wry look and responded, "Yes boss."

********

          It was supposed to be a stealth mission. Get in, cloaked, head down, get up to Rankin's office and present himself for the inevitable grilling he was bound to receive. Unfortunately he seemed to draw more stares walking through the building with a thick coat and hood (Tseng was sure to find that missing from his wardrobe sooner or later) that he would have otherwise. Instead he pulled the hood down and just made sure to keep his head down and eyes on the floor. But that didn't help much either. Reno's hair was enough to tell people who he was. Surprisingly, although they gave him scathing looks, everybody let him pass without so much as spitting on his boot. Perhaps Tseng had done something after all. Getting to the top floor he knocked on Rankin's door and uncharacteristically waited for a response. He didn't usually, but it was still early morning and there were no assurances that Rankin had in fact come up to his office yet. Secretly he was a little afraid his boss might just have him killed anyway. He might as well show the proper respect to the man if for no other reason than to stay on the man's good side.

          The response was immediate though and Reno took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside the office. Rankin, his morning cigar clamped between his teeth looked up at Reno, with a decidedly pissed off expression before motioning for him to shut the door and take a seat.

          "This is fucked up," his boss stated unnecessarily. "I don't know whether you get in trouble on purpose or you just have amazingly shitty luck. I'm hoping it's the latter. Otherwise there is no favors Tseng could call upon that'd stop me from beating you against the wall behind you."

          He had never seen Rankin like this before. He talked as he usually did, without anger, casual, but Reno could see the barely restrained wrath lurking just behind those words and mirrored in his expression. There was little that could truly frighten Reno anymore, but evidently, a pissed off Rankin was one of them.

          "I didn't kill him." Reno said quickly. "And besides, even if I did, I thought you hated Shinra!" Reno remained standing.

          Rankin also stood, placed two big hands on the desk and leaned across it. The thick cigar smoke went up Reno's nose. "I do." Rankin began deathly calm, "Shinra the man and Shinra the company. But we are not terrorists! We do not kill people unless it becomes absolutely necessary! Do you hear me Reno?!"

          "I hear you." Reno responded deadpan. "But I didn't kill him."

          "I let what happened with Hawkly go because you weren't directly to blame. Whitley's men killed him. And besides, Hawkly was Hawkly. The world won't grieve for him, poor bastard." Rankin resumed his seat and scrubbed a hand over tired eyes. He didn't look like he'd had much sleep. "He just picked the wrong profession and paid the price. But Dallen…he was a good guy. For a Turk."

          Reno was shocked by the familiarity his boss was using toward the Turks. He mentioned them like he mentioned old friends. And what was that he had said about him owing Tseng favors? Reno was beginning to get a very creepy feeling. He couldn't voice his suspicions though, Rankin spoke before he had a chance to.

          "Tseng called me up and told me what was happening and why I should warn the boys off a public hanging. Arkette and Gafford have been around asking questions. You can understand how that has hurt us. Arkette also found the stash under your bunk and confiscated it so you couldn't get outta town." Reno mouthed a swear word here and rolled his eyes, "But I've managed to make everyone here give you the benefit of the doubt till this is cleared up. I knew what had happened from last night when Tarran came back from tryna track you down with a copy of the warrant for your arrest. Tseng straightened up what the police report didn't. If he's willing to give you a chance, then so am I." Rankin flicked some ash into an apparently empty coffee cup while he added, "Tseng also filled me in on a few details you managed to overlook last time you were here." Fucking fantastic.  "I told him only a nut job would consider hiring you let alone for a job like that. He agreed whole heartedly of course."

          "I've figured out by now that I'm out of the running." Reno grated. He wished he sounded more relived about that. "But I wasn't interested anyway. That's why I didn't tell you."

          "At least it explains why he went to the trouble of infusing you to save you." Rankin said thoughtfully. "And I wouldn't say you are out of the running. At least not unless you lied to him about Dallen."

          "I'm not lying!" Reno said almost at a shout. He was sick of constantly being questioned, the one time he hadn't done the wrong thing. "And I don't care if Tseng still wants me to join his little Shinra troupe or not! All I want to do is get the cops and Turks off my back, get my money back and get outta this fucking city! I'm sick of Midgar! Everything has catches, everyone is suspicious of everyone else and your cigar smoke is getting up my nose!"

          To Reno's further astonishment, Rankin smiled. "I believe you. Siddown Reno."

          Reno complied, glad to finally be able to rest and desperately wanting a place to sit down after Rankin's quick admission. He'd have thought it would be harder to make him believe the truth. He was very relieved. 

          Rankin continued, "Do you know what I used to do before this?" He asked conversationally.

          "Business man or something." Reno answered confused. "What-"

          "I used to work for Shinra." Rankin interrupted. "Not many people know this but I think you'd do good to hear it. But keep it to yourself, people mightn't like to hear they're working for an ex-Turk."

          Reno couldn't help his mouth falling open at that. He had begun to expect that maybe Rankin had worked for Shinra, but this was a bit much. An ex-Turk? Was he serious? He was.

          "Worked for them for a good long time too. Almost thirty years by my reckoning actually. Most of that was spent partnered to Tseng. Good man, if a little sanctimonious and unfeeling sometimes. Till of course it came time for me to sponsor someone. I was getting a little long in the tooth you see and th' bosses were getting a little wary of an old man doing the job of the young. " Reno almost interrupted here. He knew Rankin was well above fifty, but the man looked far stronger than Reno could ever hope to be. "So I did. Oh I could have picked some up and coming golden boy and we could have ended up with another Tseng or another Arkette. Instead I picked someone different. Such a small group working so closely, they were becoming stale. And I didn't want them to go even more after I left. So I picked out some random boy that was working a bar down in the slums where we were at the time I'd decided. And when he laughed in my face I knew I'd picked the right one."

          "Dallen." Reno breathed. There really was no one else it could be. Rankin had been in this job for at least three or four years. Tseng and Arkette were obviously not the men he was talking about and Gafford was too new.

          "Yup. Took the little bastard more than a year of training to get out of fighting like he was in some barroom brawl, but damn he turned into a good Turk. Annoying little unruly prick at first if I remember correctly, but everything I had intended. They need the diversity you see. Tseng's too serious for his own good, Arkette is a conniving little fiend sometimes and Gafford is even more of a joke than Hawkly was, though for different reasons. A mixture like that tends to go a little stir crazy. And besides, I didn't plan to stay there long after anyway. But even that was cut short by, well, you know the rumors from there. I don't feel like going into it again and you don't need to know. Let's just say, it wasn't an accident. Anyway you can't just look at the whole world in terms of black and white. There is a whole lotta gray out there waiting for just the right person to come in and exploit it before it goes either way too quickly. Shinra's a bit like that. I won't bomb the mighty Shinra tower cause I don't blame the people that work there for what the company as a whole is responsible for. I know better than that.

"Now the Turks are in a very dark gray area as the world scheme goes fair enough, but it's just a fucking job. So you're not selling cookies to housewives or church groups, so friggin' what? There are things you have to understand, Turks don't kill innocent people for no reason. They kill people that need killing more often than not. And I don't buy those rumors of evil Turks who kill people who are fighting for a greater good. That's a cop out. If they're important enough to gain Turk interest they're not simply letting off cherry bombs in the sewers ya know? You get the odd innocent bystander, but that is rare and usually punished severely even if the only reason for doing so is purely PR motivated. Secondly, it's not all killing and kidnapping. They are in charge of recruiting Soldiers and body guarding mostly and that's what most of the work is. Boring and wholly unproductive half the time. But damn good pay. And if you're real good, you get a reputation as well. What that reputation becomes is up to you. Me? Now I never really went farther than the Plates s'far as reputation is concerned. But that's because I never pretended to be no hero or no demon. Now Arkette and Tseng are known most everywhere. People are afraid of Arkette and awed of Tseng. But like I said, you'll be known by what you do. Whether you decide to be a hero or a monster. And I've known you too fuckin long Reno to think that you wouldn't like the attention or the chance to live for more than a week where you know when your next meal is coming. And, though I still think Tseng needs his head examined for even considering it, I think you have what it takes. Had I found you waiting tables five years ago in Sector Seven I would have been just as happy to accept you instead. It just surprises me that Tseng would pick you. Turks are notorious for picking men that remind them of themselves." Here Rankin gave Reno a vaguely amused smirk, "I weep for Tseng's mother if he was half as annoying as you, and I more than suspect Tseng and Dallen's taste in recruits is contrary to what they would've normally picked, but I think that you'd be far more insane to pass the opportunity up because of some fucked up sense of pride you have. Young men like you Reno hardly ever get second chances and you'd do better than turning your nose up at this one."

          Rankin took the pause in the conversation to stab his cigar out in his coffee cup and inspected the man sitting in front of him as if for the first time. 

          Eventually he said; "I had always wondered who Tseng would end up picking. All I knew was that the man, whoever he was, would be someone to be both feared and awed considering who and what Tseng is. The perfect Turk's protégé. And Tseng really is all a Turk should be. I had thought he'd end up molding this cold, calculating, even more perfect Turk. I was a little fearful myself at that thought. Don't get me wrong Reno, I still am afraid." That amusement came back full force now, "But now for majorly different reasons."

          Reno spent some time thinking over what Rankin had told him. No wonder the guy had been pissed. Reno was the major suspect in the man's own choice for his successor. He was more upset by Dallen's death and the idea that someone he knew and relatively trusted was responsible more so than the idea that the Turks were bugging him. It explained a lot and was something of a relief therefore that Rankin believed him when he said he didn't do it. It was also no wonder why Rankin had sent him up to the Plates in the first place to atone for Hawkly. Professional courtesy toward his old partner most probably. Also very reassuring that Rankin was far more trusting of Tseng than Arkette.

          Apart from that, Reno had little need to think over the rest of the conversation. At least not yet. He had bigger things to worry about.

          "What else did Tseng say?"

          "He asked me to assist you in getting what you need to prove Arkette's guilt. I'm more than happy to accommodate. If Arkette is responsible I wouldn't mind getting my hands on him myself. I'll allow you five men and no more. No weapons, but I'll let you keep what you are carrying." Reno's new weapons hadn't gone unnoticed for long apparently. "But you have to ask for volunteers and they get only medium bonuses. I've informed the men that you are to move around this building with impunity for at least a little while, but after this is over, no matter the outcome, you're out of a job."

          "Is this to try and persuade me into taking Tseng up on his proposal?" Reno asked sourly.

          "No." Rankin answered perfectly seriously, "You are being fired because you are more trouble than you are worth. I've fired men for less shit than what I've had to put up with from you and we would do better without the attention."

          Reno still looked a little skeptical.

          "Reno, I'm firing you because you suck in this line of work. An extemporary information gatherer but one that can't learn to keep his head down and do his job when told. I've enjoyed your working here Reno, but I could do without the ulcer."

          "Great." Reno muttered sullenly. "So when am I supposed to ask for these volunteers?"

          "Why not now? The men'll be sitting down to breakfast in the mess about now. As good a time as any." Reno pushed himself to his feet and started toward the door. "Oh and Reno? Good luck."

          Reno barely heard Rankin as he left. He felt like he had been under a constant stream of tests since first running into that Turk (who he now was able to recognize as Gafford) on the roadway with Whitley's men on his heels. Since then he'd been beaten, leashed, chased, been forced to steal things, nearly given a stroke, mako tampered with, and finally been accused of murder. Now it looked as though he was going to lead a group of rebel mercenaries on mediocre pay on a mission to clear his name and arraign a current and heavily feared Turk. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was a little disappointed to be alive at that moment.

          Tarran caught sight of him on his own way to the mess hall and immediately flung his arms around his friend in a crushing hug.

          "Holy fucking Alexander Reno! Where have you been?" As unnecessary as it was, Reno was vaguely comforted by his friend's display of emotion. Somebody at least was glad to see him. 

          Tarran released him and took a step back to look Reno over properly. "The only reason I knew you weren't dead was because you were still wanted for murder last time I checked."

          "How did you know about that?" Reno asked curiously but not at all suspiciously. Half the slums knew about it by now, but Tarran had managed to get a copy of the warrant no less. However, Tarran was above reproach in Reno's eyes as far as trust was concerned.

          Tarran smirked. "Your little Plate princess has some friends with many resources. I have my ways. But I never thought I'd see you here again. What's going on?"

          Reno told his friend all about what had happen in quiet tones (they were standing in a hallway) before telling him about Tseng and Rankin's proposal. He was careful to keep Rankin's secrets to himself, even from Tarran, and glossed over it simply saying that Rankin owed Tseng a favor. That could be taken innocently enough considering who Tseng was. No doubt many people owed more than one favor to the Turks. 

When he was done, Tarran nodded thoughtfully and asked, "So who you gonna pick to come with us?"

Reno grinned. He shouldn't have thought Tarran wouldn't be the first volunteer himself.

"You know you should get that Elena chick to help us out. She's pretty smart with stuff like this. Or that friend of hers. He's a whiz with computers."

"Maybe," Reno allowed, "But unless there is something specific we need help with I'd rather keep her out of it." He shuddered to think of what Arkette would do if he ever got his hands on her. "As for her friend, I don't even know who the fuck you are talking about. I don't want rich kids out for an adventure. I'll take the paid mercenaries any day."

Together, Reno and Tarran went into the mess. Using the bench at one table as a step, he moved to stand in the center of the table where he could be seen from anywhere in the relatively large room. Men whose eating he had disturbed swore at him but he paid them no attention. Before he had been in fear of his life being spotted and recognized, now he was counting on it. He had bigger things to worry about rather than a few surly men whose breakfast he had interrupted.

"Listen up!" Reno called. Tarran stood protectively in front of him on the ground, arms folded across his chest, daring anyone to start a fight.

The mess quieted quite quickly actually. He remembered Rankin not even being able to call attention this fast. Though Rankin was hardly an infamous Turk killer now was he?

Reno forced his voice to remain loud and clear under the combined glare of so many people. Talk about tough crowds. It wasn't unusual for guys to get up and call for volunteers for certain dangerous type jobs in the middle of mealtimes, offer rewards and take offers. But Reno had certainly never done it before.

"I have authority to grant level two bonuses for any volunteers for a spy seeking mission. Topside, dangerous. Three days tops." The bare basics. Nobody needed to know more till they had agreed on coming.

Silence.

The silence wasn't usual. But he had delivered his case just like any other man he had ever witnessed had.

He resorted to different tactics. "Oh c'mon! Who the fuck here is afraid of one little semi-dangerous Plate run. I know more women who have more balls than you guys do."

"You might want to watch what you say Reno." A voice from a nearby table spoke up with a slow drawl. A female voice. Anneal's voice actually. A woman with short cropped black hair that sported a scar that ran down over the left side of her forehead and through her eyebrow. As he watched she ate a piece of some kind of undercooked meat off the point of her dagger. He knew Anneal, she wasn't a bad sort if you like your women to be blood crazed sadists that is. He'd slept with her twice.

Her gave her his best grin, "Sorry to offend your vulnerable feminine sensitivities Ann."

She licked the blade clean and smirked right back. "Level two you say?" 

Someone near the back set of tables threw a slightly overripe banana in Reno's direction. Reno deftly caught the offending piece of fruit and threw it right back. A small surprised cry followed.

"Level two." Reno replied not at all put off by the interruption. Food throwing wasn't usual at all.

"Beats normal pay." Ann decided.

"You really kill a Turk shit stain?" That voice was unmistakable. It came from the table opposite. 

"No Dart I did not." Reno replied with a sigh.

"I'd believe that. There's no way you could kill a Turk."

"Your faith in my abilities is overwhelming." Reno said back sarcastically. "You however I could believe could kill a Turk." Dart grinned at the compliment till Reno added, "The mere smell of you would kill them or at the very least knock them senseless."

He got more than a few scattered laughs at that.

"I'm coming." Dart pronounced, "I'll show you I can kill a Turk."

Reno didn't really want Dart coming, nor the two cronies he was likely to bring. But even Dart had his uses. He could only imagine the glee he would feel at letting Dart loose on Arkette.

"We're not going to kill Turks." Reno told him as if explaining something to a small child. "It's a spy hunt and fact finding mission. Still want to come?"

"Never know," Dart put that sickening smile on his face, "might get lucky. John and Andy are coming too." Well that was a given. That was also Reno's five. Three toughs, one femme fatal, Tarran and himself. 

Diverse and skilled enough, Reno thought to himself as he gave orders to meet after breakfast and hopped down off the table managing to 'accidentally' knock a bowl of oatmeal into the lap of one of the loudest men swearing for him to get off his table. But he still felt like he would rather be dead than take this particular test. Well he might get his wish after all. In a test like this, getting an F might mean just that.

***********************

Notes: Well, a lot happened this chapter to make up for last chapter's lull in action. Not that there was a lot of action, but it is definitely promising some to come. I didn't actually plan on getting this far in one chapter and I can't help but think I've forgotten something. Ah well, I'm sure it'll come to me. 

_So Tseng kinda sorta believes Reno's story and has given him a chance to prove it. Not to mention Reno has a nice little group of his own to help him along the way. That part was not planned, but I think I'm liking it. *grins* I suddenly feel very sorry for Arkette and Gafford, don't you?_

_Well maybe not /that/ sorry_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories 'o' mine can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

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	12. The Hard Way

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 12 

The Hard Way.

Name: Tarran Richer

Age: 21yrs

Origin: Sec Four

OF: Mercenary

Criminal History:-

1 Count of Theft

3 Counts of Aggravated Assault

16 Counts of Auto Theft

Notes: _Former car thief with minor assault charges._

_Easy attitude with no former allegiances to other groups. Good active thinking while in high pressure situations._

With added training could make useful active fighter, with uses in operational circumstances of dangerous nature.

Name: Anneal Wicks

Age: 26

Origin: Sec Eight

OF: Supporter

Criminal History:-

3 Counts of Suspected Murder

2 Counts of Assault

Notes: Well trained assassin. Formerly part of Wicks Family (organized crime group in Sec Eight till five years ago). No surviving family. Hot-headed and quick thinking, extremely dedicated. Suspected of more charges, but was never bought up on them for lack of evidence.

No added training necessary. Will have to be watched for judgment appraisal. So far is found lacking.

Name: Dart Aakridge

Age: 25

Origin: Sec Two

OF: Mercenary

Criminal History:-

19 Counts of assault

12 Counts of suspected murder

14 Counts of theft

10 Counts of aggravated assault

55 Counts of resisting arrest and assault to a police officer

Notes: Should be in jail on death row. Is not so can be used. 

Former debt collector for Wicks Family. Massively enjoyed his work. Very competent for heavy, intimidating work. 

Some added training. Lacking in basic and personal morals. Not to be used in delicate situations.

Name: Andrew Saxby

Age: 24

Origin: Sec One

OF: Mercenary

Criminal History:-

5 Counts of aggravated assault

Notes: Former barman. No real criminal history. Slow thinker in any situation. Needs controlling element. Good for heavier, tough work.

Added training necessary. Follows orders without pause. 

Name: John Sampson

Age: 31

Origin: Junon

OF: Mercenary

Criminal History:-

None

Notes: Ex-Shinra Trooper since the age of 16 when he entered with false identification. Was retired after injured in the Shinra-Wutai war, lost the sight in one eye and some feeling down his left side.  Logical thinker but lacks the independence to follow through on own decisions. 

Good at taking orders, well trained with guns and other assorted small arms. Minimal training needed.

Name: Reno

Age: 19

Origin: Sec Three

OF: Mercenary

Criminal History:-

7 Counts of Larceny

1 Count of Suspected Arson

3 Counts of Aggravated Assault 

2 Counts of Disturbing the Peace

5 Counts of Auto Theft

15 Counts of Resisting Arrest

1 Count of Suspected Murder

1 Count of Forgery

2 Counts of Possession of an Illicit Substance

Notes:-

Mostly picked up in his youth for theft and brawling. Used to work for slum lord Don Corneo. Left under stressful circumstances. Could prove a target of revenge. Capable thief and messenger. Received partial bodyguard training. Quick on his feet and in thinking. Also too rash in some circumstances. Suggest using as a messenger carrier till old enough and mature enough for heavier duties. Also, if he manages to live that long.

Minimal training required. Anonymity training necessary.

***

          When Tseng opened his door, he was hardly expecting the sight he found. Expecting Arkette, Gafford or Rufus, maybe even Reno, he was very caught off guard by the sight that did greet him. Lounging up against the doorframe in black tight-fitting clothing and a long black leather jacket was a women with an evilly amused expression and cool dark eyes. Tseng almost drew his gun when he saw the woman absently testing the tip of a slim dagger with her thumb with the same casual ease in which she stood. She smiled when she saw the focus of his eyes and slipped the blade back into a band mid way up her right thigh along with two other similar knives. The smile wasn't warm. It was amused.

          "You Tseng?"

          Tseng didn't answer. He merely fixed her with his own icy look and proceeded to look very aggravated. It wasn't common, but it did happen. Some people who imagined that the Turks were this cool band of enforcers would track one of them down and either try to get recruited, or just to gape, or in the odder circumstances, try to seduce him. But it wasn't common at all really. Most people were content to give the Turks a wide birth. But there were always exceptions to every rule.

          "What do you want?"

          The women did smile for real now. Tseng could hardly say it still leant any warmth to her face though. "My name is Ann. But you," She drawled making a show of raking her eyes over his body, "May call me whatever you wish. So long as you call it loud and harsh and most preferably, slightly out of breath."

          Tseng rolled his eyes and went to shut the door. Ann though intercepted the door with a palm and knocked it open enough to let her stroll passed the surprised Tseng and into his apartment. He hadn't been expecting her to do that. Even the most diehard weirdoes he got on his doorstep were still usually a little timid around him. It didn't mean he was any less annoyed at the intrusion though.

          "What do you want?" He repeated taking no care to hide his irritation.

          She turned in the center of his apartment and made a show of taking off her leather jacket and laying it precisely over the arm of the sofa.

          "You might want to close your door first."

          "Why would I do that when I am about to throw you back out of it."

          Ann took a seat in the center of the sofa, spreading her arms across the top of it and crossing her legs. Another knife hilt gleamed over the top of her knee high black boot.

          "And why would you want to toss your bodyguard out? And besides, you mightn't find me so easy to toss anyway. I have my orders and I will do everything within my power to follow them."

          Tseng raised one eyebrow at the woman sitting so comfortably on his sofa. "Orders? Whose orders?" He was either beginning to think this woman was insane or Rufus was playing a joke on him. 

          "I'm sure you really don't want me saying /that/ particular name when all your neighbors could hear me. I was told to tell you something if you wouldn't co-operate. I was to tell you that after this little adventure you owe your old buddy Peaches a ticket out of Midgar and a bottle of that sixty gil whiskey."   Tseng's other eyebrow shot up. Reno sent her? It /had/ to be Reno. There was probably only one other person alive that had heard Dallen refer to Reno by that name. Tseng swung the door closed and folded his arms across his chest. None of this changed the fact that it was still late night and this woman wouldn't leave him alone. 

          "And why would Reno send me a bodyguard?"

          "I would have thought that would be obvious. At least until he and the others can track down the other men involved. True there are others perhaps more suitable to the job, but he thought it would be less conspicuous if it were me here rather than one of our burly boys. Especially if I am seen here every night and every morning."

          Smart. It was smart for Reno to think of that. But that still didn't change the why of it. "I don't need a bodyguard."

          "Oh?" She asked with mock ignorance. "So you aren't the subject of an assassination plot by two of you co-workers?"

          "Reno told you that?" Tseng asked unimpressed.

          She ignored his last question. "Don't assume that because you are a Turk you can take care of yourself. If I'm to believe recent events, the Turks haven't exactly been flourishing. And despite what some of you high and mighty Shinra boys might think, you are not invincible and omnipotent beings. You are human, and you do not have eyes in the back of your head."

          Great. So not only had Reno saddled him with a bodyguard from a rebel slum group, he had saddled him with one of the believers of the cause. One who thought Shinra and the terrorists should be people to hate.  Fabulous. He was going to wring Reno's neck.

          "Yes well, tell him I appreciate the sentiment, but I can manage on my own."

          She didn't move. "He was very specific with my orders. After all he can't very well prove his innocence to a corpse can he? Besides, I owe him one. I'll keep you alive, even if you are Shinra."

          Very smart. There was also probably no way she would betray him to a Shinra man either, not for any reasoning or money Tseng might offer. And if Tseng forcibly tried to remove her she'd more than likely spend the night sitting outside his doorway anyway. He may have been impressed with the boy for his reasoning and planning, but he still felt the desire to beat him senseless.

***

Ann bought Tseng's shiny black sports car to a bone crunching stop in front of the Shinra Plaza and smirked at the other occupant and he loosened his jaw and gave her a murderous look.

          "Thanks again for lending your car out to me. I'll try to keep it in one piece for you."

          The anger turned stony. "It wasn't as if I had any choice." Tseng cracked open his door and got ready to get out when Ann caught his arm. "Remember any unscheduled fieldwork…"

          "I know." Tseng ground out. "I call in."

          "Good boy." Ann congratulated. She leant over the space between them and gave him a slow kiss on the cheek. "Now have a good day at work hon."

          With three calming breaths, Tseng got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk while the black bullet revved once before speeding off down the road and around a corner. 

          Tseng figured he was about as close to cold blooded murder as he had ever been in a good while. Since being tempted to strangle the last breath out of Reno in his apartment, the urge to go ahead and finish the job seemed to be manifesting almost hourly. This latest urge had been spurred on by the appearance of Ann. True he had ordered Reno to take care of matters, but he had hardly expected to be saddled with a bodyguard. He was a Turk after all, not some rich executive who only knew how to file papers and type. 

          That hadn't helped Dallen any. 

          Well that was true enough. But Reno had no right to be messing with him like this. Especially not by sending him Ann. She undoubtedly seemed to know what she was doing (she had professed that she had special insider knowledge on how someone was likely to assassinate a person), but she was getting up his nose. She basically had his entire movements plotted down in her head. She would drop him off at work in the morning where he was safe within a crowd and high security till he got off work. Then she would come by and pick him up to take him home. There she would spend the entire night awake, on watch while he slept. In the morning the process would repeat itself. She would use the time he was at work to catch up on sleep. If he was to leave the Shinra Building through the day for any reason, he had to call it in so one of 'the guys' could keep and eye on him. His life was being planned for him and there was hardly a minute that went by when he would be alone.  And to make matters worse, Ann wasn't exactly one he would have chosen to spend five minutes with let alone all night with. She was condescending, obnoxious and spent most of her time eyeing him with a hungry look. 

          "Who, may I ask, was that?"

          Rufus had come to stand by Tseng and eye the direction Tseng's beloved car had disappeared off to with a most unbelieving expression.

          "You don't want to know." Tseng answered shortly. He wasn't in the mood for Rufus this morning. Actually he should introduce him and Ann. No doubt the two would hit it off. 

          Rufus easily kept pace with Tseng's rapid stride. A briefcase swung from his right hand. Evidently he had only just arrived at work himself. 

          "Can it be that you've finally taken my advice and found some mindless fuck? It's about time. You needed to unwind."

          Tseng and Rufus pushed their way in through the double glass doors of the Shinra Building. 

          "I'm in no mood." Tseng informed Rufus shortly. Rufus may have been his boss. He may call him Vice President Shinra more often than 'Rufus'. But he was not below telling the younger man his mind out of work hours. Sometimes even in. 

          Rufus blinked at the other man when they stopped in front of the closed elevator doors. "Either fucking a beautiful woman doesn't agree with you, or you didn't fuck her and are irritated by it. I'd be inclined to believe the latter."

          "Believe what you want. Neither is true."

          The elevator doors opened at the two entered the deserted cab. 

          "So…you leant out your car to a woman haven't had sex with, don't want to have sex with and who kissed you on the cheek before you got out of the car." Rufus frowned. "Care to enlighten me?"

          Tseng eyed the camera suspended above them in a corner of the elevator and simply muttered, "I'll tell you about it later

****

          Wiping the mist off the mirror in front of him, Reno cringed at his appearance and ran a hand through his short hair. His hand didn't encounter enough hair for his liking. It wasn't as if he was bald. But he had been growing his hair and it had been almost tickling his collar before he had picked up the scissors this morning and took to it. There was still enough hair left for him to feel it high up on the back of his neck and annoy his eyes, but he still felt bald. And that was another thing. He never used to have the sort of hair that fell into his eyes. His hair was happy enough to stick up on his head at odd angles and never bother falling over his face. Probably a result of washing it with poor soap. (and only on the odd occasions that he did decide to wash it.) But he had been forced to wash it for another reason. The instructions on the box of dye had told him to. According to Tarren, it wasn't enough for him to simply change his look a little. Oh no. Tarren had insisted on him dying his hair, cutting it, and wiping this foul looking cream on any exposed skin before he went out anywhere. The cream gave him a more tanned complexion without making him look like he'd simply rubbed dirt over his body. He had to admit, he could barely recognise himself as he looked into the mirror. But he would have prefered to remain 'himself'. But ever the voice of reason, Tarran had argued with him that he couldn't go out in public sporting his bright red hair and pale skin when over half the cops in Midgar were looking for him.

          In the mirror he saw Tarran leaning against a basin behind him, absently munching dry cereal out of a box. Food was another thing they apparently couldn't be picky about.

          "You look good." Tarran told him.

          "I look like a freak. Actually I look like Arkette's younger, less sane brother."

          Tarran grinned around his mouthful. "Well you're the one that insisted on leaving the building when you're a wanted man. You could've spent the next couple of days hiding out and ordering us around from here."

          'Here' was an old building in Upper One that was currently owned by Rankin. Basically it was used as a safehouse or a base of operations for any big Plate business. It was the only one of Rankin's on the Plates at all actually. It consisted on three floors, the first one Rankin rented out to a tailor who tolerated the comings and goings of the rebel group members in return for a ridiculously low rent. The second floor was accessible from an alley fire escape as well so the tailor didn't have to put up with them tramping through his shop at all hours. But the tailor was surprisingly receptive to the member's and often offered a tired man blankets and food. In repayment, most rebels kept to the top floor to conduct their business and never under any circumstances allowed themselves to be followed back to the building therefore endangering the tailor. The top floor had enough of everything for their needs anyway. Reno suspected that the old building used to be a gym or something. The bulk of the third floor was covered in smooth planed wood boards with a small section given over to a shower room and locker room. The lockers were long gone, as was any equipment that might have been in the main room. But the showers still had running water as well as the usual amenities that went along with it. So long as they didn't want hot food or cold drinks they could remain here quite comfortably for some time.

          "Big day tomorrow." Reno reminded him pulling at his hair. He seemed to believe pulling it might make it longer again. 

          "Oh yeah. Promotion time. Ya think they'll try for him before the promotion?"

          Frowning once more at his reflection, Reno turned to face Tarran, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't know. Don't think it matters much to Arkette in which order he becomes Leader. Fact is, he'd probably rather wait till after."

          "Oh?"

          Reno shook his head. "I'm not explaining this twice. You'll all need to hear it anyway."

          Tarran nodded without argument and continued to eat his cereal while Reno got dressed. Soon as Reno was dressed, they wandered back into the main room where four other people were lounging around absorbed in various activities. Anneal was sharpening one of her knives while Dart and his cronies were playing some coin game against the far wall. When then saw Reno enter though, they put down whatever they were doing and came over to the room's singular table. All took chairs except for Andy who stood protectively behind Dart, meaty arms folded across his chest. And Ann, who sat /on/ a corner of the table. Reno scored a few whistles at his new look.

          "Didn't think it was possible fer you to get more ugly, shit stain. Guess I was wrong eh?"

          "Oh, c'mon," A sly smile off Ann, "I think he looks cute."

          "What?" Dart asked incredulously, "You like lookin' at chocobo's asses do you?"

          "No. But I've gotten used to it having to look at you each day Dart."

          Reno rolled his eyes at Tarran who could only shrug in reply. So this was his band of mercenaries that were going to help him clear his name? Somehow he didn't feel all that fantastic at the prospect.

          "How did everything go last night?" He asked the group pointedly. 

Dart shrugged and Ann grinned. 

"Sat my ass down outside his building for the entire cold fuckin' night. He didn't move once." Dart reported. He was shadowing Arkette.

"Well I had a cozy night indoors with a rather tall, dark and handsome Turk. Dropped him off outside the building at eight. We are now the proud borrowers of a sleek black sports car by the way."

"Anything happen?"

The grin only got wider. "No, but I'm working on it."

"I meant about the danger, not….nevermind. Tomorrow, yous'll have extra backup on the off chance Arkette decides to do Tseng in before time. Dart take John, Ann take Andy. Tarran, you're on Gafford."

The room as a whole groaned.

"Shuddup."

"So what you gonna do Midnight?"

It was all Reno could do to keep his hand away from his hair at the comment. "I need to go see my ol' buddy Bert. The rest of you get some sleep you've got a big night."

More groans before the group began dispersing. Reno motion Tarran over before he could wander too far though.

"What's up?"

"You said something about a friend of Elena's and that's how you got into the MPD files right?"

"Thinking of using him after all?"

Reno nodded, though reluctantly. "Yeah, I have an idea."

***

          "Elena is so lucky."

          Reeve looked around at the wistful voice his sister had used. Samantha wasn't looking at him though. Her eyes were glued to a place across the lobby where a tallish man had entered. The young man was scanning the lobby slowly, unaware or uncaring about the desk clerk that was swiftly approaching him from the side.

          "He is sooo cute." Now she did turn to face Reeve, a mischievous light in her eyes. "I'm going to go talk to him."

Before Reeve could respond Samantha started off in the direction of the young man. Reeve rolled his eyes and started off after her. He caught up to her half way across the lobby and brought her to a halt. 

          "No you're not. You're going upstairs."

          "But he's probably just looking for Elena. He'll get thrown out if we don't stop them."

          "Sam, no."

          She narrowed her eyes at him accusingly. "It's because he obviously doesn't fit in here isn't it. That's why you don't want me to talk to him."

          "No." Reeve responded calmly. "It's because he was here not too long ago looking for a friend who is being bought up on a murder charge."

          "But-"

          "No buts. Upstairs. I'll go."

          With a sullen pout, Samantha turned and walked off back toward the elevator. Reeve drew in a deep sigh and continued on to where the young man was waiting by the doors. 

          "Tarran right?"

          "Yup. Reeve?"

          Reeve waved the desk clerk off not turning his attention away from Tarran. "Elena's not here."

          "Oh, that's okay." Tarran began, "I was actually looking for you."

*************

          Notes: So this was a really short chapter, my most humble apologies. But you have no idea how much I've got to get through next chapter. I also realize I may have lost some element of fun in this fic which I will endeavor to get back to. But I really need them to be a little more serious for the time being. Just wait though, I have some funnies planned for the next one *giggles* 

          Stayed tuned

          AF

Btw, please review, I'm starting to think no one is reading anymore. L Also if anyone is interested, I need a couple of people I need to bounce ideas off for the fic. But please, only those who are also reading Monsters. You'll see why. Any help would be most appreciated and lucky people might get spoilers! Yay!

anime_fearie@exite.com

All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar

http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/

Mailing list fun and lots of prizes to be won.


	13. Twists And Turns

I Must Be Insane

By AF

**Chapter 13.**

Twists And Turns.

          "Well, well. If it isn't my old buddy Bert."

          Bert squinted at him in the light of the hall before settling on looking more confused. "I know you kid?"

          Reno grinned. "Course you do Bert." In reality, Reno should have felt guiltier about showing up on Bert's door. The aged man in front of him looked like he'd had only about an hour's rough sleep. But Reno often found that it was difficult for him to feel guilt for a person that had shot at him before. No matter their age or apparent incompetence. "S'Reno. One of Rankin's boys."

          Bert's eyes widened at this and he went to slam the door roughly in Reno's face. Reno stopped it with his foot before pushing the door open brutally, sending Bert sprawling back into the apartment. Reno causally wandered in and shut the door behind him. After making sure the room was vacant apart from himself and Bert, Reno crouched down beside the visibly shaking Bert, sliding his knife out of his boot as he went. Immediately Bert's frightened eyes went to the knife.

          "Now now, that's no way to treat an old friend. Especially when your old friend comes bearing such interesting news." Reno began idly cleaning his nails with the tip of the blade. "Word is, that you've been a very bad Bert indeed."

          "I ain't done nothin' Reno. You tell Mr. Rankin that."

          "Oh, my little visit has nothing to do with Rankin. I just said that you'd know me by being one of his boys. Oh no Bert," Reno shook his head in mock regret, "Rankin don't want me no more. Seems I've been a little bad myself. You wouldn't have heard about that? Would you, Bert?"

          Bert nodded rather quickly. "I heard. But it's got nothin' to do with me. I ain't gonna stick my nose into yer business Reno."

          Bert had never been all that comfortable around Reno from the beginning. All too often Bert was an informant to Rankin. And all too often the information turned out to be either bogus or not two minutes later told to someone else. Reno ran a lot of those errands. It was part of the reason the Turks had become so familiar with him. Often they had been out chasing the exact same clues he had. He owed a fair few scars to this man's loose jaw.

          "So you heard I killed a Turk huh?" Reno grinned rather toothily at him.

          Bert nodded quickly.

          "So you also know I'd have no trouble killing you off either. Don't you Bert. After all, I'm already wanted for a Turk murder. What's the difference if I add your worthless name to the warrant huh?"

          "What-what do you want?"

          Now here he had to be careful. Bert was a piss-poor excuse for a man. But he also ran gossip through the slums for the higher ups. And he was good at his job. Better than he should be really. He worked sometimes for Shinra. Sometimes for the odd businessman. And sometimes for various terrorist groups. He had all the right contacts, knew all the right people and not one of them knew him. That was what made him so good. He was a coward, he was a liar and he was one of the greediest sons of bitches in Midgar. But, even more unfortunately, he wasn't stupid. Reno just had to make sure he didn't end up telling Bert too much.

          "I want a few names Bert. Nothing major. Just the names of some guys who might have the iron balls needed to deal with Shinra. For, shall we say, special, fatal, type jobs."

          "Shinra assassins?" Bert asked almost amused. "Shinra don't need assassins. They have the Turks."

          "Oh no, Bert, I'm talking for the jobs too dirty for anyone from Shinra to want to be within a thousand miles of."

          "Plate or Slums?"

          "Plate probably."

          "Organized or Mercs?"

          "Dunno. Both, neither, one or the other. If I had to take a guess, I'd say the latter."

          Bert whistled through his teeth. "Won't find many around here. Best go to Junon for that."

          "Oh?"

          Bert nodded.

          Reno made a thoughtful face for a moment. It didn't last long. He had the knife at Bert's throat before the old man could so much as blink. 

          "You fucking with me Bert?"

          "No, no. Honest Reno." Bert stuttered. "I can give you the names of those in Midgar. But Mercs, they move on like."

          Reno nodded. Finally convinced he was telling the truth and took the knife away from Bert's throat. 

          "Good. Go get that list."

Reno stood and let Bert get up and scramble over to what passed as the man's desk in his living room. After scribbling down a few names and details onto a piece of paper he hurried back over and handed Reno the short list.

After a quick perusal, Reno turned to leave. But he did stop by the door to offer Bert a goodbye.

"Oh and Bert. If after I leave here and I find so much as a flash of anything blue colored following me, I'll make that Turk's death look like a Plate woman's tea party in comparison to what I'll do to you. Do we understand each other?"

Bert again nodded very quickly. "Yes Reno." Then, "I-I like what you've done to your hair."

Reno smiled a little less than pleasantly at Bert before cocking his arm up to throw his dagger. The dagger imbedded itself, quivering into the floor by Bert's bare right foot.

"Be seeing you Bert."

****

"Well, this looks like the place." Tarran said looking up at the rather garish looking building. It was practically covered in pink neon, a rare sight for Upper Midgar. But this was the nasty part of Sector One after all.

The man beside him looked up at the building then took another look at the computer printed map in his hand. "Not exactly what I had imagined. It looks more like a brothel." 

Tarran shrugged, "Well I didn't say we were looking for stand-up citizens of the Midgar populace. And besides," Tarran grinned at Reeve, "this /is/ a brothel."

He expected Reeve to show some surprise at the news, but the guy merely gave the building an unimpressed look and began folding up his map. "I just didn't think people could use it as a hotel. And here this guy has it listed as his home address."

"Maybe he owns it or something." Tarran replied uncaring. 

Reeve shoved the map into his pocket and shifted his unimpressed gaze to Tarran. "You had me searching the MPD databanks for Plate dwelling men with dubious criminal backgrounds. You might think that said men aren't above lying about where they live."

Tarran wasn't impressed with people picking apart his theories. "Remind me why you came along anyway?"

"Because you told me that without your friend you get lost up here. And that if I helped you out, you'd leave Elena alone."

"Oh yeah." Tarran really was getting sick of Reeve. He'd rather be here with Reno any day. At least with Reno he could carry on normal types of conversations without logic having to come in and ruin it. "And I appreciate your help so far." Well that was true enough. He really had appreciated getting the information and then getting a guide to take him to most of the places they'd dug up. "But you're increasingly fucking rational mind is starting to get on my nerves man." 

Reeve didn't seem to take too much offense at the statement. "This whole thing is starting to get on my nerves. We've been to five places already with no luck. I don't even want to ask why you are looking up guys like this."

"It's a hobby I like to do in my spare time." Tarran told him sarcastically. "What do you think I do for a living working with a friend that's been accused of killing a Turk. Bake cookies?"

One thing he had to give Reeve though, the guy was neither impressed nor scared by any of this. And he didn't ask any questions. He just went along with the agreement that if he helped out, Tarran would no longer come to the hotel bugging Elena. And Tarran swore he wouldn't. Pity he couldn't say the same for Reno though.

"You work with that guy you got me to track down the other day?" Reeve asked with no more than a raised eyebrow. "What was his name?"

"Never you mind."

"Did he do it?"

"No." Tarran answered promptly. Well, up until now Reeve hadn't asked too many questions. "Look Reeve, you can bail on this last one if you want."

"Think I might." Reeve agreed scratching the back of his head.

Tarran stuck out his hand, "Been interesting though. You're an unbearable pain in my illogical ass Reeve. But I gotta say, you're not so bad for a spoilt brat rich kid."

Reeve smiled slightly and shook Tarran's hand, "You're not so bad for a facetious superficial slum rat either Tarran. It's been… unusual."

"Have a nice life man."

They parted company on the street in front of the pink neon brothel. Reeve started back toward a nearby taxi stand, and Tarran started up the stairs of the building.

Inside it was really rather eye-watering. From what he could see through the thick incense scented air, the room was divided up by three main floors. The one he stood in had an open area and a roof that extended up all three stories. A long winding staircase provided access to those upper levels via balconies that could be seen from where he stood. Red carpet beneath his feet and dark crème paint on the walls made him think of blood and bone instead of the possibly intended effect of cherries and cream. It probably had something to do with the sickly sweet incense smoke. It made the whole place look like someone had accidentally set a room on fire somewhere. The whole effect wasn't helped by a soft sort of organ music filling the room either. He supposed it was meant to sound mysterious or something. But it sounded a little too bad-horror-movie to be anything but creepy. In the center of the room there was a rather ornate Wutian Garden where several hardly dressed girls were reclined on stone benches perhaps for no other reason than for the show of it. He suddenly wished he hadn't sent Reeve away. It would've been very amusing to see him simply shrug this off.

He was only standing there for a few moments before a youngish blond girl in a very sheer type of robe sauntered over to him and gave him a smile and a once over with her eyes. Seeing his modest clothing and rough appearance, her smile dropped, apparently deciding that he wasn't a prospective client after all.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah, actually. I was hoping I could have a word with Edward Brydon."

The girl blinked at him in surprise. "Ah, Mr. Brydon is caught up in a meeting today. Is it urgent?"

Well at least there /was/ an Ed Brydon here after all. 

"You might say that. Just go and tell him I have a message from Arkette would you."

The girl nodded, and even though looked a little suspicious, she dutifully hurried off toward the stairway. 

Tarran hung around the front entrance for a while, but as the minutes dragged on, he began to get a little bored. No doubt if Mr. Brydon wasn't in fact caught up in this caper he would just get Tarran thrown out. But if he was, he should come down right away and see what was up. Tarran was hoping to be able to set up a bogus meeting where he, Reno and the others might nab the bastard. The chances that he and Reeve had stumbled across the right guy seemed very remote though. 

Tarran wandered over toward the center section where a pretty redhead was practically laying full length across a fake marble bench. She had a simple translucent scarf-thing draped over her lap and a gold clip in her hair. That was all. After a moment, she offered Tarran a seductive smile and began idly running her perfectly manicured red painted nails down her neck, over her shoulders and down as he stood there watching.

Tarran just smiled appreciatively, _I oughta get one of these gardens myself._

But before the thought was completed he heard a quick rustle behind him shortly before pain flared up his neck and all went dark.

*****

"Where's Tarran?"

Reno asked coming to a stop in the middle of the room. The others were just getting ready for their night's duties when Reno finally managed the get back to the safe house. It was late afternoon now.

Ann was just pulling on her last boot when she answered, "He called in a few hours ago. Said he was going to track something down and not to wait up for him."

"Fucking fantastic." Reno muttered sourly. It would mean reassigning people to cover for the downfall.

"S'pose we don't need anyone on Gafford." Dart chimed in. "From what you say, he's only that otha Turk's pet anyhow."

"Yeah but that other Turk's pet is a sucker-punching fucking asshole that gave me a fist sized bruise on my jaw for three days. Gafford might be Arkette's errand boy. We watch him tonight." Reno looked around the room and the other four people present. He sighed heavily. "Fine, John take Gafford, Dart take Andy with you. Satisfied?" There were a lot less groans this time. "Okay, c'mon Ann, time to go."

*

When Tseng got into the car with Ann in the evening, he was slightly disgusted to find several pairs of interested eyes wander his way. No doubt, Rufus' gossiping had been going into overdrive today. Ann didn't help any when she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss either. It took all his willpower not to growl at her.

"Is that necessary?" He asked through clenched teeth as they pulled away from the curb.

Ann shrugged. "Not necessary. But it's better than not doing it. People are less likely to wonder if they simply think you're fucking me. Gets rid of a whole slew of nasty questions later."

As much as he hated to admit it, she had a good point. And that was even more antagonizing. Soon though his mind left it alone when he noticed where they were going. Or rather, where they weren't going.

"My apartment isn't this way."

"I know that. We're going for a visit somewhere first."

"Where?" Tseng questioned.

Ann pulled the car over to the curb and killed the engine not five minutes later. "Here." She announced. 

As far as Tseng could see, 'here' was the road works for the yet to be finished Midgar No. 3 Freeway. They had pulled up at the end of the completed part. In the deepening evening light though, the site was vacant of workers. Vacant of everything but heavy machinery, a few trucks and of course the young man leaning up against the side barricade across the road with short black hair and wearing jeans, a long black overcoat, and shades. When Tseng looked his way, the young man smiled knowingly. It was the smile that tipped Tseng off.

Throwing open the car door, Tseng got out and strode over to the young man just as he was pulling off his sunglasses.

"I should just shoot you anyway Reno and be done with it!"

Reno, however, didn't look phased in the least. "I had hoped you wouldn't recognized me so quickly. Do you realize what pain my ego went through for this haircut?"

"I'm not joking Reno, this is not what I had in mind!"

Reno looked over Tseng's shoulder as Ann strolled up to them. "What's up his ass?" Reno asked her motioning toward Tseng with a nod in the infuriated Turk's direction.

"I think he's having his manhood threatened being babysat." Ann replied hanging herself off Tseng's shoulder. Tseng brushed her away.

Reno focused back on Tseng with a sly smile. "You told me to take care of it. I am."

"Yes Reno, I told you to take care of it. But you are interfering with my life." As soon as he'd said it, Tseng realized his mistake.

Reno's smile went cold. "Interfering with your life eh? Well aren't you just the poor little innocent." In fact his expression was turning decidedly feral. "I have the horrible misfortune one night to pass a Turk in the street and now, here I am, wanted for a murder I didn't commit by one of the most dangerous men in the most dangerous city in the world. Now, I won't presume to know what your life is like Tseng, but I'll be fucked if you start on with this shit about how you're the one being put out by all this. Since I've known you, you've shot at me, chased me, leashed me, used me, beaten me, almost electrocuted me and, and this is the clincher, altered my body with mako infusions. If you complain one more time I'll beat the shit out of you on principle."

Tseng saw his error. He saw every reason Reno might want to take a swing at him, but there was no way he would make himself the obedient lap dog over this. "I'd like to know how you think you'd accomplish this feat." Tseng told him truthfully.

Reno's smile returned, but it was still a little cold. "Because Tseng, this time I have something you don't have," He motioned toward Ann, "reinforcements."

With a sideways look at Ann, he nodded in agreement. "Point taken. But I still think it is unnecessary. Do you really think Arkette would kill me in my own home? He's not brainless Reno. All he has to do is wait for the next training mission and 'accidentally' miss his target."

"It /is/ necessary because I don't think Arkette will do you in himself."

Tseng shook his head, "No, I know this man. If he truly has that much against me he will want to do it himself."

"Oh, you're right. He will want to. But he won't. You may know him, but you don't know how he thinks. You have to have the mind of an underhanded asshole in order to know what one is thinking. You, even with all your flaws, and there are quite a lot of them," Reno assured, "are not an underhanded asshole." Reno grinned. "I, on the other hand, am."

"For once I won't disagree. But why then hasn't he done anything. Why wait?"

"To be honest, I think he's waiting specifically till after your promotion. He'll get a grim satisfaction from seeing you in the position for a short time before you're killed and he is promoted. Far less suspicious that way too."

"And you know this because that is what you would do?" Tseng asked a little disbelievingly. 

"Kind of." Reno began brightly, "Personally not only would I do that, but I'd also kill off any person who might back you and therefore get suspicious of you're death. Family, friends and contacts. But hey, that's just me. Arkette might see that as overkill though I was only using it for an example."

Tseng cleared his throat to hide his expression. "You should have accepted my offer Reno. You would have made an exceptional Turk with the proper training."

Reno looked over toward Ann uncomfortably. Obviously he hadn't mentioned that little detail to his comrades. 

"Yeah, well, I didn't. Fuck knows why I'm even helping you out with this at all."

"You couldn't leave the city. You need your name cleared."

Reno gave Tseng a rueful look. "I think we both know I could have got out if I really, really tried."

"Perhaps." Tseng allowed. "And perhaps you stayed for different reasons."

They shared a look for a few moments before Reno nodded fractionally. "Yeah. Arkette. I want to kill him. Fucks like that don't deserve to win."

It was spoken in all honestly and for a moment Tseng almost felt a chill. "Win Reno? You make it sound like a game."

That cocky half-smile again, "Sure it is Tseng. Everything is."

Tseng felt like rolling his eyes. Occasionally, Reno reminded him just how young he was. Insightful, but still very young.

"Anyway," Reno continued, "There's a reason I made Ann drag you out here." Reno pulled a white sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Tseng. When he opened it he saw about seven names on the sheet along with contact details. 

"What am I looking for?"

"I want to know if you recognize any of those names. More specifically I want to know if any of these guys have had any trouble with the Turks."

Tseng scanned the list till he hit upon two distinct names. "Tom Disbull and Edward Brydon." Tseng handed the sheet back. "Disbull's dead. Brydon was a guy we caught trying to take potshots at the President a couple of years back. As far as I know, he's dead too."

"You sure?"

"Not positive. I was guarding the Vice-President in Junon that weekend. Usually all would-be assassins don't live through an encounter when we find them. Hawkly would have killed him. There really was no need to ask."

Reno nodded, though he looked obviously troubled as he slipped the paper back into his pocket. Evidently, Tseng had just spoilt a hypothesis for the young man.

"Well, so much for plan B." Reno said trying to sound positive.

"Plan B? What was Plan A?"

Reno allowed a small smile. "Plan A is currently shadowing the other Turks and dangling off your left shoulder."  Tseng spared a glance toward Ann and inwardly groaned. "Speaking of which, I better go check up on the others then track down my missing trooper."

"I wouldn't worry too much Reno." Ann began, "You know Tarran when he's on the trail of something. He'll probably turn up three days from now, bleeding, exhausted and positive he's solved the whole thing single-handedly."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Go get some rest. Big day tomorrow remember."

Reno nodded at the suggestion. But Tseng had the distinct feeling that something else was bugging Reno. Lip, caught between his teeth, he looked past Tseng and stared out at nothing.

"Something else?"

Reno took a few more moments to answer. "Nah. Not really. Just thinking."

Tseng could pretend to be patient no more. He turned his back on the young man and started back toward his open car door, not forgetting to snag his keys back off Ann in the process. 

Reno was still there in that pose as they drove away.

***

When the shrill ringing of the PHS began at one am, Reno was still awake. Reno didn't keep paper notes on anything he was involved in. Bad work ethic really. Ties, trails, everything, open to anyone that could read it. That wasn't to say that everybody he knew could read. Amongst the six of them, only four could, and Tarran's reading and writing skills weren't much to brag over anyway. So it was an unnecessary waste of time, paper and worry to keep notes. At least paper notes. Everything Reno needed to know was written down on a mental note pad. Only problem with that though, was that occasionally the notes to him seemed utterly illegible.  This was one such time.

There was something in his conversation that was telling him he should be paying attention to a detail he hadn't thought of prior to the meeting. Not that Tseng had necessarily been a wealth of information. In fact he'd crushed one of Reno's prime theories in one conversation. But that wasn't what he was stuck on. It hadn't been something Tseng had said, he was sure. More like some rampant thought he's had when he'd been talking to Tseng. Reno had been going over the conversation in his mind since this afternoon in the hopes it might jog the same thought and only now did he seem to be beginning to hit upon what it had been. That was, until the PHS had rung, totally shattering his concentration.

They only had one PHS between six people and usually whoever was left at the safehouse got to man it in case there was someone else calling in from a public phone somewhere in the city. That usually meant Reno had it on him more often than not.

"What?" Reno answered irritably. 

/"S'John. Gafford's out. Went to a bar in two. He's been in there talking to some dude for about ten minutes. I wasn't really getting the close buds vibe."/

Reno was a little more alert now. "Where?"

/"Next to the train station. You comin'?"/

Reno was already pulling on his boots. "Yup."

/"Who ya want me to follow if they leave before?"/

"The other guy." Reno swore under his breath, this was the reason they need a spare person around. When he found Tarran he was going to beat the shit out of the impulsive asshole, totally disregarding the thought that he wasn't usually much better himself.

It took him little more than another fifteen minutes to get to the bar. John whistled him over to a nearby doorway as he passed.

"You're just in time." The big man told him nodding over toward the bar.

Reno turned his head so very slightly, just enough to see Gafford emerge from the bar. He stopped for a moment on the sidewalk, lit a cigarette and walked off. The Turk didn't even take a casual look around first. A moment later, another person exited, zipping up a jacket and walking off in the opposite direction.

"That's him." John told him. "You wanna nab him or follow him?"

Reno thought the matter over for a few moments. Eventually he just shook his head and stepped away from the door, motioning for John to fall in beside him. "Nah, fuck this. I'm sick of following people and hoping they take us somewhere interesting. Let's get the fucker and find out if he knows anything eh?"

"Won't he warn 'em?"

Reno gave John a slightly derisive smile. "After we nab him, he won't have a chance to. In the last couple of days or so, these Turks haven't so much as visited their mothers and it's getting on my nerves. If he's guilty of anything, we beat the information outta him. If he's innocent, well, he gets to stay as our guest for a few days at the safe house at our expense. Or at least let him go with a severe death threat for talking. Either way, I'd just about nab Arkette's milk man at this point if I thought the man might know anything."

John nodded. He hadn't really needed anything more than the order. "When we take him, you want unconscious with injuries or without?"

"Without." Reno responded as if it should be obvious. "These are the only half decent clothes I have man, blood just doesn't wash out."

John nodded and grinned.

*

The night was cool. He pulled the neck up on his jacket then shoved his hands in his pocket as he walked. 

He needn't have bothered. He only went a few more paces when he felt the heavy impact at the base of his neck. He fell forward from the blow with a surprised and painful grunt. He was too late to fling out his arms to absorb his fall, but he did manage to keep his head from hitting the rough pavement. Pain flared through his chest when he hit.

Too stunned and winded to move, he was roughly grabbed and tossed onto his back. The light from a nearby street lamp allowed him to see his attackers through his only slightly blurred vision. Considering the size of one of the guys, he was lucky he hadn't been hit harder.

The smaller of the two, the one with short black hair stooped down beside him and roughly grabbed the front of his jacket. He shrank back a little when he saw the young man's softly glowing blue eyes in the darkness, but the man jerked him back roughly and pulled the zipper down on his jacket, apparently meaning to reach inside for his wallet.

Of course, he should've known he was being mugged. Just his luck after the day he'd already had.

But at the sight of his uniform underneath, the young man's eyes widened slightly and he stopped doing what he was doing and sat back on his heels.

"Shinra." He said as though it were a curse. "He's fucking Shinra!"

"Whoops?" The bigger, older man offered in a deadpan voice.

After the younger man shot him a scowl, he continued digging for his wallet. Pulling it out of the inside pocket of his windbreaker, the man flipped it open.

"Derik Harrison. Shin-Ra Tower Machinist, 1st Class. Engineering Division." The man's eyes narrowed slightly as he focused his gaze back on Derik. He tapped the wallet idly on his knee. "What would the Turks want with you?"

A chill passed through Derik at that. They had been following him? This wasn't a mugging? Suddenly Derik very much wished that that was all it was.

His apparent shock must've been evident on his face, because the young man, watching him closely suddenly gave him a very odd half-smile. Too late, Derik tried to explain.

"I-I know him. We-We're friends. We just went out for a drink is all."

That half smile grew more pronounced. And that was when Derik realized he couldn't have given himself away any better than if he'd told the truth. This man knew he was lying.

He turned back to his companion. "Not whoops John. Definitely not whoops. I think I owe you a drink or ten."

Derik wasn't sure which one chilled him more. They're joking attitudes or the fact that they didn't seem worried in the least about saying their names in front of him.

"No sweat Reno."

Reno, his name was, turned those amused, freakish eyes back toward Derik. "Shinra man huh? That's very interesting news." Then he stood up and pocketed Derik's wallet. "Remember John, no blood. At least, not yet."

The big man, John loomed over him menacingly. A fist descending, then darkness. 

***

_Notes: Very tempted to put more in, but there are just some things I need to leave for the next chapter. Still not much action huh? Well, tomorrow is promotion day, I'm only just warming up._

_          Btw, thank you to those people who wish to help me out with plot stuff. If it isn't too much trouble, could you e-mail me? I've had major problems with people keeping current e-mail accounts. Thank you._

_          One more thing, I'm contemplating doing another story after this one to do perhaps a little of Rude's first days in the Turks before I get too used to the idea of kicking off the Turk's Series. *shrugs* just pondering though, don't hold me to it just yet._

_Reviews are my friend they make me happy, please don't forget._

_AF_

anime_fearie@excite.com

All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar

http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/

OOC relationship Comp coming up!


	14. The Big Day

I Must Be Insane

By AF

Chapter 14 

The Big Day.

          Ann walked into the main room in the morning, yawning. Body guarding really was a boring job, she decided. And one she was unused to. In her old employ, before Rankin, she was usually the one of the other end. She was the one people often had to be guarded from. Perhaps the more amoral side sure, but at least she got to make her own hours and she didn't have to wait around to be possibly taken by surprise. But she wouldn't quit now. She owed her allegiance to Rankin. And now, on this particular job, that meant that she owed her total acquiescence to Reno's command. And she didn't mind. Taking orders from Reno wasn't so bad. He wasn't a stickler for meticulousness, so long as they got their jobs done. Plus he had helped her out on occasion.

          _And, she decided as she walked into the room seeing Reno bent over something in the far corner, __he doesn't have a bad ass either._

_          Ann smiled to herself as she walked over to see what her temporary boss was so interested in. John hovered nearby, arms crossed over his muscled chest, watching something on the floor in front of Reno. Surprisingly, it was a man. Perhaps less surprisingly, the man looked like he'd jumped from a great height onto John's right fist._

          Ann stood behind Reno and looked over the unconscious man with little curiosity. Reno must have felt her presence and craned his neck round to look up at her. "Quiet night?"

          She nodded. "Prisoner or victim?" She asked simply.

          "Prisoner." Reno replied turning back from her and going back to his task of checking the man over. Whether he was looking for weapons, injuries, clues or all of the above, Ann didn't know and didn't much care. She'd spent the entire night awake, staring at Tseng's coffee table while the man slept in the next room over. She was tired and suffering from immense boredom. She wanted nothing more than sleep and food. Not necessarily in that order. 

          Reno eventually stood and sighed, hands on hips, watching the inert form of the captive at his feet. "Seen Tarran?"

          "No." Ann answered stretching and walking away. "But I passed Dart and Andy on my way here."

          "Where are you going?"

          Ann stopped, halfway to her bunk and gave Reno an odd look. "To sleep. Where else?"

          Reno smiled slightly and shook his head. "Sorry Ann. When this guy wakes up I want you to interrogate him. I'd give the job to Dart, but I want to make sure the man truly deserves that before I do anything too drastic."

          Ann shook her head. "No. No. And, finally no. Reno I haven't slept-"

          Reno rolled his eyes and cut her off, "Yeah, join the club." He turned back to John. "There's no use for it. Haul him into the showers and spray him will ya?"

          "Sure." John replied bending down to haul the smaller man up. "Sorry and all. I didn't mean to hit him that hard."

          "You almost forced his brain out through his ear. But I really don't care so long as he wakes up soon."

          As John moved off with his burden slung over his shoulder, Ann gave Reno her best glare and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't care if everyone else has been awake for ten times the amount I have been for. I need sleep Reno. Remember that guy I'm watching for you. Tseng. The one who's in danger of catching a knife in his back. The assignment is a little too important to turn up half asleep for."

          "What ever happened to following orders unquestioningly and loyally?"

          Reno was only joking, but Ann sighed in resignation. "Fine." Ignoring Reno's smug smile, she walked across the room after John. The reason Reno had given her this particular job to do was that she was more or less trained in such arts. 

******

          There was no ceremony involved. It was really nothing more than going to Heidigar's office, listen to the old man prattle on a little about duty, the greater good of Shinra and not fucking up as badly as his predecessor had done, and finally collect his new I.D. and security cards.

          After he had left Heidigar's office though, Tseng stood out in the hall for a few moments and stared at his new identification.  Together with a small, but far more recent photo of himself, was his Shinra details. The newest addition being at the top of the card just under 'Department of Administrative Research' named him as the head of that department. One little word. And that's what he stared at. Though initially, Tseng had been slated for the position a good many years ago. But after his sponsor Vincent had died, leaving him much too young to take the esteemed position another had taken his place. Since then it seemed unlikely that he would ever attain the rank, and to be honest, it hadn't much bothered him at the time. He fit well into the role of being just another among their ranks. He followed orders, did his job and got paid. No having to worry about their small department's funds, or anything along those lines. It was usually just him, his partner and following those orders. Simple. But now, things had changed. His partner was dead. Probably killed by his remaining two Turks who were also involved in some conspiracy to kill him off as well. He could think of better circumstances to be elevated to Turk leader in. But not even the thought of Arkette's treachery or how much he wished he had Dallen there beside him at this moment was what was making him stand there and stare at his new card. 

          This was the position he had been trained for all those years ago. This is what he was meant to be. This is what Vincent wanted him to be. And he found now, that he would give almost anything not to be holding this card with that one specific word printed on it. He didn't want it. Dallen had died for it. Reno was fighting for his life, and he Tseng, doubtlessly wouldn't have the threat hovering over him either if it weren't for that word. All over one little printed word on a security card. It made him sick to think about. But there was perhaps one thing he wouldn't give to go back to a time when everything was simple again. And that was allowing Arkette to take his place. He didn't blame himself for what was happening, it wasn't his fault. It was Arkette's.

          It was also in that moment that he realized how much he believed Reno over Arkette. He no longer had any qualms in believing that Arkette had killed Dallen. Perhaps he had always believed it. But now he was utterly certain. With a grim set to his face, Tseng slid the card into his wallet, then the wallet into his inside pocket before striding off toward the Turk's lounge.

          Predictably, there were a few people waiting for him on his return. Gafford, Arkette and Rufus actually. Gafford gave him a slick smile and a nodded 'Sir'. Arkette went so far as to shake his hand and offer his new boss a smile. Tseng returned it with a cool nod before moving off toward the coffee machine against the side wall. Rufus gave Tseng an appraising look.

          "You look like someone who was just told they had five minutes to live. Not someone that was just promoted."

          It took all of Tseng's considerable willpower not to drop the mug he had just picked up and keep his face impassive. He also took pains not to notice the sharp look Gafford shot Arkette.

          Tseng poured his coffee and turned back toward the group as he took a calm sip. "And you expected me to dance in through the door all smiles and shiny eyes?"

          Rufus rolled his eyes. "Well perhaps not you. But I swear a simple smile was at least called for."

          "Nothing has changed since he was given the news." Arkette told Rufus apparently coming to Tseng's rescue. Though to Tseng's ears, that could have meant many things. "But it does call for a drink."

          "Harold's. After work." Gafford piped up.

          In his paranoid state, it sounded too rehearsed for his liking. But it was tradition enough for them to take him out after work for drinks. He could hardly refuse and not make it look suspicious. And besides, Rufus would be going as well. He knew he could trust Rufus.

          "Uh, not me guys." Rufus spoke, getting to his feet and stretching. "I have my last solo flight tonight to get my license finally. Been planned for months. Sorry Tseng."

          "Quite alright." Tseng lied.

          "Come afterwards." Arkette offered. "You'll know where we are."

          Tseng almost blinked at that. Perhaps he was being too paranoid.

          "Will do. Well, we all have work to do. I'll catch up with you later."

***

          Ann straightened up, flexing her fingers as Reno came into the shower room holding the PHS. Handing her the PHS he got a look at her red knuckles and the utterly cold look on her face. 

          "Excursion to the bar tonight with Tseng. The other Turks are taking him out for celebratory drinks. It's late afternoon now. Get what sleep you can before going." 

          Ann nodded and took the phone off him. Before putting it to her ear though she gestured to the slightly moaning man on leaning against the slick tiles of the wall. His lip was cut, his face a little purple here and there. But apart from that he looked no worse for wear. Doubtless though, whatever Ann had been doing to him would leave few marks anyway. Pinching certain nerves and things like that. He sure looked in enough pain.

          "Think he's ready to be a little more accommodating now."

          With that she left the room to speak to Tseng. John stood, a few paces back, arms crossed over his massive chest, standing guard. 

          Reno hunkered down before their prisoner. "You want to tell me something now?"

          The man nodded, defeated. "What do you want to know?"

          Reno smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile. He didn't like all this torture shit. But he wasn't above knowing what was necessary. 

          "What do you do in the Shinra Building? You're a mechanist right?"

          He nodded again. "I-we, my department services the machinery in the Shinra Building."

          "I get it. So what were you going to do? Cut a cable on the elevator while your new Turk's Leader was riding inside?"

          Reno was actually a little surprised to see how shocked the man looked at that. "No, no! I swear I don't know what you mean!"

          Reno made an inarticulate sound in the back of his throat. "What did Gafford want with you?"

          Now he looked a little frightened. "You don't understand! They'll kill me if I tell you!"

          Reno's smile twisted a little at that. "And you think we won't if you don't? What'd they do? Threaten you into doing the job?"

          "I didn't know what they wanted me to do at first, I swear! It wasn't till after that I found out. By then it was too late."

          "In other words you took the money and spent it." Reno concluded disgustedly. "So by the time you found out it was a Turk they wanted killed it was too late to back out right?"

          The man's forehead furrowed and his eyes widened. It was an interesting look. "I don't know anything about killing a Turk I tell you! I don't know who they want killed. I was just given a time and what they wanted done."

          Reno was surprised. While he seemed to be lying about knowing who the target was, Reno was pretty sure he wasn't lying about it not being Tseng.

          "I don't believe you."

          "Want me to go wake Dart?" John asked.

          Reno chewed his lower lip in thought for a moment, not taking his eyes off the prisoner. "I'd hoped we could get through this without subjecting him to Dart." The prisoner's eyes widened a tad more at that. Without Dart though, this was gonna take some time.

*

          Under the circumstances, Tseng regretted informing Reno about where he was going tonight. There were three main reasons he had done it at all. One, Reno was right, he needed protection and he had told him to look after the situation. Two, he was outnumbered by himself. And three, well, pissing Reno off again would get him nowhere. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed the boy's help. Tseng was loathed to admit that at present, Reno had more power over the situation than he did. And if he had any hope of winning this particular battle, he'd have to concede the previous one to Reno. Sure he might be in a different situation if he'd told Rufus what he knew. But without proof there was little that could be done about it. There was no question that Rufus would believe him, but Rufus himself could get into great trouble if he started investigating the Turks with no real proof that anything was wrong. Better, to just suck it up and keep it to himself. Knowing Rufus, he would pick up on it sooner or later. Already he had quizzed Tseng on the specifics of the manhunt for Reno. And already he had been quite dependable when needing to keep the truth about Reno out of his father's office. By the last update on the hunt, Rufus had given Tseng an odd look and replied, "Well I trust you know what is best", in reference to Tseng's unwillingness to step up the intensity of the search. Tseng figured that by this time next week, Rufus will have figured it out himself. But still, without Tseng's direct acknowledgement, he would probably still leave the matter alone. It wouldn't be till Tseng came to him with the complaint that he would act upon it. It was, after all, his job.

          But just after he had made his concessions, he suddenly regretted them tenfold. Nothing to do with hasty out of the blue, change of heart, but rather the sight of the woman reclining so casually against the hood of his car on the street across the plaza. Ann had apparently dressed up for the occasion. A simple, short black dress, hair combed straight and glossy, make-up dark with one touch of color in her red lipstick. She did retain her boots from her usual outfit though. If Tseng didn't dislike the woman so much he could see her as attractive. But she looked how she looked. Ann in too revealing clothing draped across his car where the other two Turks could plainly see her. Though her accompanying them was part of the plan, he had hoped that she wouldn't play the part quite so well. 

          The sight was enough for a low whistle from Gafford, a raised eyebrow and slightly bemused expression off Arkette.

          "Jeez, where'd you pick up that fine thing?" Gafford questioned.

          Arkette turned to his partner with the same look, now faintly amused. "You aren't in Tseng's company enough to know. Tseng doesn't find women, they find him." Back to Tseng, "Though I wouldn't mind knowing just how /you/ became interested for anything more than a night with a women so…shall we say…open."

          "At the very least." Tseng grumbled.  

*

"When does your shift start Derik?"

          The prisoner swallowed once before answering, "this afternoon. Doesn't matter. It's too late. It's already been set up."

          "Set up for who?"

          It was then that Reno finally figured out what exactly had been bugging him all the night before. That one little clue that had been sitting in the back of his brain since he had spoken to Tseng the day before and had refused to let itself be known. It had in fact been something he had said during that conversation. Meant only as mere jest at the time, he couldn't understand how stupid he'd been to overlook it now.

_"To be honest, I think he's waiting specifically till after your promotion. He'll get a grim satisfaction from seeing you in the position for a short time before you're killed and he is promoted. Far less suspicious that way too."_

_"And you know this because that is what you would do?" Tseng asked a little disbelievingly. _

"Kind of." Reno began brightly, "Personally not only would I do that, but I'd also kill off any person who might back you and therefore get suspicious of you're death. Family, friends and contacts. But hey, that's just me. Arkette might see that as overkill though I was only using it for an example."

Overkill indeed. Especially if Reno was right. No wonder he hadn't really given it much thought before. He wouldn't have though Arkette even had the balls for this. There was after all, only really one person who would back Tseng loyally over Arkette. Who might mount an investigation if Tseng suffered an untimely death? 

"Oh fuck me." Reno muttered. "Rufus."

Reno looked back toward John. "Go wake Dart. I wanna know everything this fucker knows, now."

"They've gone Reno. It's after seven."

"Fuck!"

Reno grabbed the front of Derik's shirt and pulled the startled man to his feet. Using the momentum he spun the man and around and straight into the wall behind him. Startled as the man was, he had no time to prepare for the impact and hit the wall full force with a sickening smack. Reno let go of his collar and let him drop flat onto his back. Bending down over the sprawled man, Reno told him; "I'll be honest, I do go in for this torturing stuff. I'm usually on the receiving end you see, I know how painful it can be. However, there is more riding on your responses than I think you realize. Let's get one thing straight; I don't much care if the Vice-President of Shinra Inc plummets to his doom at the bottom of an elevator shaft after some freak accident. But I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. First you kill off Rufus. Then Arkette kills the Leader of the Turks. Those are some pretty important people. Can anybody say, open terrorist season? And besides, killing Rufus does not bode well for Tseng's chances of surviving. Therefore screwing me over in the bargain. So understand me when I say that I am taking a personal insult at your staying quiet. The kind of insult that will have me dead in some dumpster with a man I hate standing over me laughing. And if you only knew how livid that thought is making me, you would tell me everything, lend me your car to go stop it and pray to whatever god you follow that it is only Arkette after you and not me anymore. I can promise you shelter till Arkette is taken care of if you like. But if you don't tell me what I want to know, I will spend the entire night beating your head against that wall till Dart comes back and I can promise you some /real/ pain."

It was somewhat worse that Arkette would go after Rufus. For one, Rufus wouldn't be expecting it. While Tseng might have told him something of what was going on, there was no clear reason Rufus would have to fear Arkette. At least Tseng was prepared and guarded. With Rufus gone, and with it probably any want for any investigation should anything untoward happen to Tseng, Arkette could make up any damn thing he wanted and be believed because of who he was. Just like he had with Dallen.

Luckily, Reno didn't have a chance to get much angrier, after his little speech, Derik seemed willing enough to co-operate. 

***

Rufus pulled his white coat on just as he swept out onto the roof. With a nod and a genuine smile for the few techs he passed, Rufus angled his long quick stride toward where the sleek black chopper awaited him for its usual pre-flight checks. Wind whipping his coat out behind him and streaming through his hair, he felt invigorated. It had taken him eight long months to beg Tseng to give him the lessons. And now after numerous lessons and solo flights he was ready to do his last few hours of night solo flying for his proper license. In retrospect, he really didn't need the few papers and plastic card to tell the authorities that he could fly the chopper. He was Rufus Shinra after all. But, like with his drivers license and numerous other certificates he had, he felt a sort of satisfaction about having achieved them. Money, power and position be damned. He'd earned it all himself. 

He paused halfway to the chopper to watch the last rays of sunlight burn down behind the artificial Midgar skyline, letting the wind continue to fling his clothing and hair, a perfectly serene, confident expression on his face. When the sunlight finally disappeared, Rufus continued across to where a tech was waiting in front of his chopper. Confident expression still in place, Rufus accepted his headset.

"Good luck Sir." The tech told him with a shaky smile. 

Rufus nodded, toward the tech, not really listening and pulled open the door.

Pre-flight checks went off without a hitch, and the tower (a small squat building built adjacent to the helipad on the very top of the Shinra Building) gave him the go ahead to lift off.

On the helipad, the tech watched as the Vice-President's chopper lifted into the sky and streaked off over the city. He didn't see nor hear his co-worker walk up to stand beside him till the other man spoke. 

"Derik still not here?"

"Boss must've chickened out." The tech replied. "Either that or he got held up. Either way, we done what we were asked. You better get down to the VP's office and clean any traces of that stuff out of his coffee machine and cup."

"You sure he drank it?"

The tech nodded grimly. "He always does before a night flight. It's only an extra precaution anyway. We fixed the stabilizers. There's only one way that chopper is coming down and it ain't gonna be in one piece that's for sure."

*************

Notes: Not a very big chapter and hardly compensation for being so late with it. But maybe there will be when I say there will definitely be an update with chapter 15 within a fortnight on FF.net I swear to you. 

_But you can see that things are starting to heat up now huh? Well you'll be happy to know that the whole next chapter should be all action. So be ready for it!_

_Reviewing is much appreciated, so don't forget!_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories are on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_mailing list, fics and other assorted junk._


	15. Idiotic Heroics

I Must Be Insane.

_By AF_

**Chapter 15**

By AF & Ace.

Idiotic Heroics.

His newly acquired uniform was itching like a bitch. It especially didn't help that he had copious amounts of sweat running off his body in rivers either. John didn't seem to mind the running though and so long as Reno didn't try and sprint too hard, the ex-trooper not only kept up with him but seemed to be handling the forced pace much better. It reminded Reno of just how unfit he was for this type of stuff. Give him a drainpipe to scale, an air vent to crawl through and he was fine. Even short sprints he was able to move quickly without drawing too short a breath. But give him more than five miles to cover at a jog and he was screwed. He couldn't even complain about it to his companion in fear of using precious breath he might need. 

He almost felt like wasting it anyway and telling John to go back to the Safehouse. They had left their prisoner back there half naked (after stealing his uniform) and tied so severely that Reno doubted the man would have enough room to twitch let alone escape. But he didn't like to leave the man unguarded. Besides, they only had one uniform and one ID card, both of which Reno was sure wouldn't pass muster if anyone took too close a look at the picture on it. He didn't look anything like Derik. Though now thanks to his new hair color, he might pull it off, John's presence was another thing entirely. But Reno kept his mouth shut, they had to try. Reno needed the backup more than Derik needed guarding. And the security guards in the Shinra Building weren't such hot shit that Reno didn't think he could get around them anyway. Lucky for him, he realized, because otherwise they mightn't have made it through the lobby.

They had just pushed their way in through the double glass doors and were striding across toward the elevator bank when a receptionist pulled them up. Reno was in the middle of straightening his hair and pulling his jacket tighter around him to hide the stains of Derik's blood when he heard the woman clear her throat.

"Uh, techs are you? You need to sign in. Remember?"

Reno subtly shrugged at John's questioning glance and wandered over toward the desk. When he saw the receptionist, he nearly swore. It was the same one he'd met after the job at the Buildings Office. She didn't seem to recognize him though.

"Sorry, must have forgot." Reno lied signing Derik's name in the log book.

The receptionist gave him a condescending smile before noticing the name Reno had scrawled. Halted just as he was about to explain John's presence, he watched the receptionist pale slightly and look back up at him.

"Derik?"

Oh fuck.

"You're not Derik."

Out of a possible fifty techs in the entire building, Reno just happened to have picked the one who seemed to be on a first name basis with the lobby receptionist.

Reno gave her a pleasant smile. "Don't suppose I could convince you to keep that little detail to yourself now could I?"

The woman stared wide-eyed at Reno for a while before he hand darted out to lift the phone on her desk. Reno caught her wrist none too gently making the woman gasp. He released her soon enough though, taking the phone off her and viciously tugged the cord out of the phone before gently replacing the now dead receiver back in its cradle. 

"Y-you, I know you."

"No you don't." Reno corrected her.

"You can't h-hurt me. There's cameras."

As if one cue, one of the elevator's chimed. The doors slid open to disgorge maybe four guards into the lobby. Reno made a quick note of them before turning back to the receptionist and commanding; "Stay." Done, he reached inside his jacket for Dallen's gun which he flipped to John. "Try not to kill them if you don't have to. We're not terrorists, but we're not saints either."

John nodded, not unused to guns and jacked a fresh round into the chamber. For himself, Reno had bought along Dallen's nightstick. He supposed it was about time he learnt how to use it anyway.

The guards hadn't even bothered surrounding them before singular guard with a red uniform stepped forward, "Alright boys, you've had your fun. It's-"

With a dubious look at his weapon, Reno held it up toward the captain and depressed one of the buttons. A bolt of orange electricity shot out and engulfed the guard, dropping him immediately and cutting off his placating spiel. 

Reno grinned at the weapon calmly. "Oh, Cool."

The guards, who had obviously thought Reno and John were nothing but two stupid idiots thinking to sneak into Shinra, now brought up their weapons and started fanning out. But their chance had already been lost through complacency. John floored one with a mighty punch, shot another in the leg while Reno electrocuted the last.

          With the four guards either out cold of holding themselves and groaning, Reno and John stepped over the bodies and entered the elevator the inept guards had so nicely bought down for them. Once the doors were closed, Reno wrapped his arms around his new weapon and sighed happily. "I think I'm in love."

          John didn't look surprised in the least.

***

          Tseng sighed when his PHS went off in his pocket. He wasn't sure if it was in relief or irritation. Both Arkette and Gafford quieted when they heard the noise. It was almost funny. He was sure nothing short of a shootout in the bar would've stopped Gafford from trying his hardest to sweet talk Ann. 

          "Tseng." He answered into his PHS shortly.

          "Sir, there's been an incident in the tower."

          Tseng listened with a blank expression to the rest of the information. When the head of security had finished talking Tseng told him that they were on their way and hung up.

          "A couple of terrorists have infiltrated the Shinra Building. The guards have asked us for our assistance."

          "Tower guards." Arkette said in such a way that made it sound like an insult. His face was hard to read though. Gafford far easier, looked spooked. 

          Ann went to get to her feet along with the three men but Tseng waved her back down. "Wait here. This is Shinra business."

          Ann gave him a tight smile. "Of course love. But can I have a few words before you run off?"

          Tseng nodded and motioned for the others to get going. They would start toward the Tower in Gafford's car. When they were gone, Ann's expression was business once again.

          "You know my purpose here is to follow you into unexpected situations like this."

          "If you came it would seem too suspicious. Nothing can happen in the Tower. Wait here, I'll be back."

          Ann sat back down without another word and watched him leave.

***

          Reno stopped the elevator on one of the top floors and ushered John out through the doors. Reno himself stayed in the elevator, depressed the button for the top floor before tossing the keycard to John.

          "If memory serves, the Vice-President's office is on the floor at the end of the corridor. Check it out. Though I reckon he's already gone up to the helipad, we better make sure. Come up when you're done."

          "What about the guards?"

          "Don't think they would've expected we'd get this far, that's if they're still not down in the lobby groaning. Just walk round like you belong, doubtless the execs won't stop you. If you get caught tell 'em you're working for Tseng spying on me. Hopefully Tseng'll back you up."

          John shook his head. "No."

          Reno put his back up against the elevator doors to stop them closing and gave John an irritable expression. "Look you won't do me any good locked up. I get caught, you go back and tell 'em Tarran's in charge. If he's not back yet, then you and Ann are. You got me?"

          "I got you."

          "Good." Reno stepped away from the doors to let them close. 

*

          Mounting the last of the stairs to the roof, Reno jogged across toward the sole building, noting with more than a few colorful words the absence of any helicopters.

          Throwing open the side door to the building Reno entered and fixed the nearest of the five men present with a grim look. "Has the Vice-President taken off yet?"

          Too numb to do anything else, the guy nodded and looked around toward a man standing in front of a black and green screened monitor. Of anyone present, this man looked to be in charge. 

          "Who are you?"

          "Pissed." Reno answered absently coming over to stand by the guy and looking down at the monitor. Reno had never seen anything like it before, but he could guess what it was. A green glob pulsed on the screen whenever the rotating green line passed over it. Reno pointed to the glob. "Is this the helicopter?"

          The man looked at the odd weapon dangling from Reno's left hand then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I don't think you're supposed to be here."

          Reno nodded and favored him with a crocked grin. "You're probably right." 

          Reno reached out, caught the back of the man's head and bought it down against the monitor. He let go quickly enough and managed to catch two more men with a bolt from his nightstick before they made it out the door. Through the view screen he could see the remaining two racing across the rooftop toward the stairwell. Reno grinned when he saw John reach the top of the stairs. He didn't need to see the rest. Turning his attention back to the man by his feet, he managed to haul the man to his knees. He was conscious and bleeding heavily from one nostril and a gash on his forehead. 

          "Now, let's try again. Is that green dot the Vice-President's chopper?"

          The man nodded putting a hand to his nose. He looked rather shaken. 

          "Radio?"

          Shaken or not, the man shook his head in refusal. Reno knocked his head against the monitor again. "Radio?"

          He pointed to a headset on a hook above another adjacent panel. Reno let the man's collar go and picked up the headset, fitting it on. "Shouldn't you be monitoring this?"

          The man looked away fast. 

          Rolling his eyes, Reno adjusted the microphone and cleared his throat. "Hey, Rufus."

          It took a few moments of static before he got a reply. When he did, the voice on the other end sounded somehow slower and thicker than he remembered. 

          "Who is this? The tower? Why haven't you been answering my transmissions?"

          "Well, there's been a problem. How are things on your end?"

          In the moments that followed John entered the room with an even grimmer than usual look on his face.

          "What now?" Reno asked.

          "Found a tech in the office. He was tryna clean things up I reckon. Techs don't clean out coffee machines."

          Reno was too disgusted to give much of a reply. "Fuck, he's been drugged."

          John nodded and came to stand by Reno at the monitor. "Looks like he's only about a mile or so away."

          "You can read that?"

          John nodded as Rufus finally replied. "I think there's something wrong with the stabilizers…but…I don't know." The voice definitely sounded groggy. "Something…I don't feel so good. I'm heading back now."

          "He's heading back." Reno relayed to John. "Said that there was something wrong with the stabilizers."

          "That's how Derik said they were gonna sabotage it. Among other things. He's not gonna be able to land, especially if he's been tranqued."

          "That kinda makes it hard to save him then." Reno told John sourly. 

          "He could probably do it if he were fully awake and landing a little closer to the ground where the wind wasn't so strong. Maybe. Don't know if he'd be able to do it at all." The ex-trooper finished.

          "Yeah well, he's not fully awake and he's heading back now."

          As if one cue, they spotted the lights of the chopper out of the view screen swerving rather drunkenly. This was the moment that Reno realized he had to come up with a plan. One did occur to him, but it was so stupidly idiotic that Reno's mouth twisted at the thought. He took a moment to look John over before saying, "Whatever you do, don't land. Wait a moment." Into the headset.

          Ripping the set off his head, he threw it to John and snatched a flashlight off one of the shelves. "Tell him to look for the light at fly as close to it as he can."

          It didn't take John long to catch on. "But you can't-"

          "I know! But answer this, d'ya think /you/ can get up there?"

          Reno didn't wait for the obvious response. John knew he was right. Reno was much more suited to climbing and jumping. It was an easy thing to climb up onto the roof of the squat building. Once up he got to his feet and turned on the flashlight, waving it above his head. John's message must've got through, the helicopter make a drunken lurch in his direction and started to fly toward him. Having the large noisy piece of machinery coming towards him, Reno almost felt like dropping to the roof and covering his head, but he managed to grit his teeth and keep his place. The chopper hovered over him, still too far up and veering dramatically. There would be no use shouting for Rufus to fly lower. Any shout would probably be lost in the noise of the chopper and the wind. After a particularly strong gust, the chopper dropped a few meters forcing Reno to dive down onto his stomach to avoid an impact. After a few moments, the chopper moved off to the side allowing Reno to get to his feet and reassess the situation. The chopper was probably as low as it was going to get, but it was now suspended half over the lip of the building. If Reno should miss-

          "Fuck it."

          Giving himself the most running room he could find, he took one deep breath, started sprinting and launched himself over the edge. It was at this point that he reminded himself that these sorts of stunts occurred much more easily and a lot less painfully when he played the scenario out in his mind. And that this particular jump was going to hurt. And he was right. He chest impacted with one of the landing struts forcing a wave of pain out through his entire chest. He almost forgot to wrap his arms around the strut in time to stop him falling. Once he had his arms around it securing though, he let himself dangle for a while and recover some of his wits. By the time he had, the chopper was hovering out well over the edge of the building giving him a rather dizzy view of the plaza far below. Hooking one leg over the strut he managed to pull himself up into a sort of sitting position and slide open the side door. Hauling himself inside, Reno slid the door shut behind him and slumped onto the uncomfortable metal floor, breathing hard and wondering if he had really just done that. 

Well if he had, he told himself, "I'm never doing that ever fucking again."

"Who are you?" Asked a slightly slurred voice from somewhere to his left.

Reno lifted his head to fix his eyes on the blurry eyed and confused expression of Rufus Shinra looking at him. Reno wondered if Rufus shouldn't be paying more attention to what he was doing.

"You know me." Reno answered pushing himself onto his knees.

Rufus squinted at Reno but didn't seem to recognize him. Reno found it hard to believe that he could've been forgotten so easily. Surely not every person that met this man for the first time pulled a gun on him. Reno could tell how heavily Rufus had been drugged just from looking at him. The light blue of his iris' had practically been obliterated by the swollen pupils in his glazed, slightly bloodshot eyes. His movements were weak and sluggish as was his way of speaking. 

Reno crawled forward. "It's Reno."

"Reno?" Rufus seemed to ponder this for a moment. "You killed Dallen."

Reno rolled his eyes and climbed into the seat in the cockpit next to Rufus. "No I didn't. Look Rufus, you're in some shit here."

Rufus' drugged mind wasn't allowing Rufus to feel much of anything except weary. He sighed and looked rather forlornly down at the controls in front of him. "I know."

After that, Rufus lapsed into silence and stared at the controls. 

"Well, uh, I've come to help. But I've never flown one of these. I've never even been in one of these before. I need you to talk me through it."

At the sound of Reno's voice, Rufus' head jerked up as if surprised. "Reno?" Rufus asked in lethargic astonishment. "When did you get here?"

Reno resisted the urge to beat both Rufus' and his own head against the dash. Instead he reached across and pulled the headset of Rufus' head and fit it on his own. 

"Rufus has gone bye bye." Reno told the radio. "Don't suppose you can help me out here can you?"

"I'll try. There should be a second set of controls in front of the spare seat. Tell me what your instruments say."

"Well there's one with a green readout telling me there's a major malfunction in the stabilizers. Another gauge with a red flashing light that's only just above zero. Another yellow one that's flashing above that one and," Reno sniffed the air, "yep, I can smell smoke." Reno reported sardonically. "So are we going to die now or do we have a few minutes?"

"I'd say a few. Is he in any condition to fly?"

Reno glanced over at Rufus who seemed entranced with one of the yellow lights. "He's got his hands on the controls, but I think he's fallen into his own world of pretty lights and buttons right now."

"Yeah well, get his hands off the controls and take out flying."

"Rufus, sit on you hands or something." He didn't sit on his hands, but he did release his grip on the controls. 

"What happened to your hair?" Rufus asked.

Reno ignored him. Keeping his hands loosely on the controls, Reno addressed the radio again. "Okay, what now?"

"Right. We need to decide on a landing site. I use the term loosely. You'll probably need to jump."

"So," Reno translated, "We need to find somewhere soft and expendable." Reno wracked his brain. "I dunno about the soft part, but I think there's somewhere where it won't matter if we run a chopper into it. It's not far."

"Right. Well we need to give you a quick lesson on how to fly."

"Swell."

***

Tseng was just racing down the home stretch toward the tower when he saw Gafford's car come racing down in the other lane toward him. He slowed his car to a stop just as Gafford did the same.

"Tower security managed to catch one up on the roof. According to camera surveillance, security seems to think that the other one might have hijacked the Vice-President's chopper." Gafford told him through his open window. "MPD have been alerted and are tracking the chopper through the city. The President's up and on his way as well. Rightly pissed by the sound of it. We following?"

Gafford's face was pinched with worry. An odd expression on a man who didn't actually like Rufus at all. Arkette, on the other side of Gafford, was staring out through the windshield. If anything, the man looked angry.

"We're following." Tseng acknowledged. 

*

It wasn't like flying anymore. It was more like wrestling.

Reno grit his teeth and gripped the controls in a white knuckled grip. He could see now that Arkette wasn't taking any chances. With Rufus drugged in a helicopter that was as fucked up as this, he would've probably crashed the thing twenty minutes ago on top of the Shinra Building. As it was, Reno was having more than a little trouble keeping it righted fully awake and sober. Granted he was inexperienced in a major way, but this was like wrestling with death himself. It didn't help that now it seemed as though he'd lost John.

Luckily he recognized enough of the landscape not too far below him now to know he was close to his intended 'landing' area. Maneuvering the chopper closer to the ground wasn't much of a problem, the problem was getting it out of the death dive once it was in it. With yet another muttered, "Fuck it." Reno managed to reach over the mumbling Rufus to open the door. Just a little bit lower now, he tumbled Rufus out of the chopper then got back to his seat in time to right the chopper's plunge a little. Seeing that it was more than lost, he shouldered open his own door and jumped out. He hit the pavement in a roll. Coming to a stop, he flung his hands over his head just as he heard the almighty crash and explosion of the out of control chopper smashing into the broadside of the warehouse he'd been aiming for. 

Flaming debris rained down around him as a second explosion rocked the night around him. Something hit the back of his hands that were protecting his head burning them before falling onto the pavement beside him. It hadn't been heavy but Reno could guess that it had been on fire. When he felt comfortable enough to raise his head he scanned the area for Rufus. He found the Vice-President lying on his side, a surprisingly short distance down the road. Reno, despite his throbbing head and aching ribs, managed to crawl over to him and roll him onto his side. He was breathing fine and didn't seem too injured. With a pained groan, Reno let himself sink onto the pavement beside Rufus and listen to the sirens getting closer. Knowing he should get up and get away, Reno stayed on his back on the pavement and concentrated on taking one painful breath after the other.

*

When Tseng reached the area of destruction, he threw himself out of his car and raced for the cluster of policemen just up from the flaming warehouse. He saw the President's car pull up off to the side but he didn't stop till he was through the crowd and staring down at the two semiconscious forms on the pavement. Two policemen had their guns trained on one of the men while the seemed to be discussing what to do with him.

"Put those weapons up." Tseng ordered them harshly.

"But isn't this one of the terrorists?" One of the confused men asked.

The President managed to force his way through the crowd at that point with the assistance of his aides and caught sight of his son lying on the pavement being tended to by a few paramedics. 

"He's alive." The President stated blankly. Then, "Tseng, what the hell happened here?"

"Sabotaged." Came the inarticulate croak from the pavement. "The helicopter was sabotaged."

Tseng bent down by Reno and helped him sit up to better address the President. 

"Who is this?" The President growled.

Reno went to open his mouth to reply, but Tseng got in before him. "May I present my trainee, Sir."

One of the medics picked that time to speak up. "He'll be fine Sir." He informed the President, indicating to Rufus. "A couple of cuts and bruises, nothing serious."

The President nodded. Not necessarily relived. But seemingly pleased by the news. Of course if Rufus had died he will have lost his heir.

"Reno isn't it?" The President inquired. "I remember from the work you've done for us before. You've saved my son's life, good work trainee. Though Tseng, with his record so far I would think that his traineeship is almost fulfilled."

Reno might have laughed had he not passed out at that point.

*

Arkette holstered his gun and took at look around him. Almost an entire shift of techs lay around him, dead. Plus one assumed terrorist. He couldn't take the chance of them talking. Not now.

"What happened?" Gafford asked gazing dazedly around him. He wasn't talking about the dead bodies.

"I don't know." Arkette snarled. "But I will find out."

****************

Notes: well well well, interesting no? Another kinda shortish chapter but I'm sure you'll forgive me :D. Well, who saw that coming? Reno has been introduced to the President as a trainee Turk! Ooooooo can anyone else smell Arkette's anger already? How /is/ Tseng gonna get out of explaining this one?

Stayed tuned

AF

anime_fearie@excite.com

Yadda yadda yadda…

http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/

Where the source all insanity spawns.


	16. Seriously Insane

I Must Be Insane

_By AF_

**Chapter 16**

Seriously Insane.

          The pain for some reason started in his left foot. Up until that point it had been his left foot that had been the only place on his body that hadn't hurt. But now it did. It really hurt. Hurt enough to hurl him out of the blissful darkness of unconsciousness and into the waking world with a startled cry. He reflexively went to jerk his foot away from the source of the pain before even opening his eyes properly. He found though that his foot wouldn't move very far. In fact, all the movement did was cause an even sharper stab of pain to lance up his entire left leg and give him the impression that his foot was actually on fire. When he was awake and lucid enough to focus on his newly injured body part, he saw the reason why. It wasn't on fire as he had expected. It was nailed to the wooded bench he was lying on by a slim but longish steel dagger. Stunned, was not the word for it. He was in shock. He couldn't even will himself to move enough to pull it out. In as much pain as he was, he didn't notice the other presence in the room. Not until a very lightly tanned hand reached down and jerked the dagger free. Stifling a scream, he bit through his lip rather harshly. Blood started to drip down his chin as he made his eyes follow the hand up to see his tormentor's face. Navy suit, neat. Dark shortish hair. Eyes as black as the world around him.

          "I know you." Arkette spoke. Looking at the Turk's expression, you might not have guessed the man was angry. Calm, collected, almost casual. But he was angry. "You're one of Rankin's boys. Our little murderer's roommate if I'm not mistaken."

          Tarran would not look down at his ruined foot. He knew he didn't want to lose himself in a state of utter shock. He needed to be alert. The past day or so had taught him that. Or had it been a few days now? He hardly knew anymore. Realistically he should be covered in cuts and bruises. But he wasn't. No, they had taken care to heal him with potions and materia after they were done questioning him. The questioning only stopped before his tormentors felt that their prisoner might be about to die. Then they revived him, cured him, and put him in his cell to rest. He had lost count of how many times he'd been questioned by now. He didn't want to remember. And he had long ago lost any memory if he had told them anything they had wanted to know. He knew they had his name, and that he worked for a rebel group. But apart from that he didn't know what he may have said. For all he knew he might have told them all about what he was doing on the Plates. All about Reno, Tseng and Dallen. Hell he wouldn't be surprised if the bastards knew the cup sizes of the last ten women he'd fucked. All he knew was that the pain was intense and he would do anything to make it stop. He wasn't used to this. He'd never been caught and tortured even in the barest hints of the word. Not like Reno had been. He had once been witness, held down by two muscle men while two more held Reno up against a wall while a third drove a knife into his friend's side. The guy had twisted it around to try and encourage Reno's tongue to flap about some information he had imparted to a rival. Reno hadn't given it up. And he had been in pain. He remembered watching Reno grit his teeth, smack his head against the wall behind him and occasionally cry out. But he hadn't given up the information. And before the sirens had gotten close enough to scare the bastards away, he had even managed to insult the guy's mother. When Tarran had managed to ask Reno later how he had done it, Reno had merely shrugged saying that he hardly regarded it as torture. And if it was, those guys had been utter armatures. That had certainly put things in perspective for Tarran. Tarran was hardly even sent on messages like Reno. Tarran himself was only a target in an all out fight. And in those fights it hardly mattered what you knew, merely if you were conscious or unconscious. In this new game, it hardly mattered if you could take a hit and stand up afterwards. This was relentless pain. And he couldn't handle this. He was sure that his friend might be able to take it while simultaneous working out a plan of escape and learning as much off these guys as they were off him. Tarran didn't want to give away Reno's plans. He hoped he hadn't. But he also knew that if he hadn't by now, he probably would after a short time. Especially considering the look Arkette was giving him this very moment.

          "Answer me." Arkette ordered shortly.

          Tarran had to swallow a few times, but finally he managed to croak out a, "Yes."

          "I recognize you. I guess you weren't lying to Brydon's men then. Though I'll commend you on how long you held out on that. I wouldn't have come down here at all if you hadn't finally let that slip. For all we knew you were just some neighborhood miscreant who had seen me come in here one night and was looking for a freebie for himself." Arkette took this opportunity to glance at a white sheet of paper in his hand. "Tarran Richer. Twenty one years of age, slum rat from Sector Four." Akrette looked up and fixed Tarran with a rather intense gaze after that. "Working for one of my old associates. Or rather now working for a boy I have the fondest wishes of strangling with my bare hands."

          Well that answered one question about what he might have said. Tarran grit his teeth and dragged his weight to lean up against the rough stone wall behind him. The cool slightly damp stone bit through his flimsy shirt, but he hardly noticed it. Hooking an arm around his upper leg he managed to drag his injured foot closer to him. Not necessarily to inspect the damage. Though he hoped it looked like that's what he was doing. No, he just wanted to get as far as possible away from Arkette and those black, angry eyes.

          Arkette saw through his attempt and smiled coldly at his captive. "You want to know what your friend is up to right now?"

          Tarran swallowed and shook his head. He didn't truly want to know. Not if Arkette was so eager to tell him. He expected his friend would therefore be in a similar situation.

          "I think you should know this Tarran." Arkette told him. "Your friend is about to be discharged from Shinra Medical. He has been fully acknowledged as Tseng's trainee you see. After all, he did the President a very good service by saving his only son from a rather fiery death. He is about to be given clothes, money and a chance to one day hold the second most feared title in the city. Or better yet, the world."

          Tarran's head came up so fast he almost banged his head on the wall behind him. He hadn't expected that. Perhaps the pain from his foot was messing with his mind. He certainly was feeling light headed from it, and more than a little nauseous. 

          "Sick isn't it?" Arkette continued. "That the murderer of a Turk, one of my comrades gets so well treated. I feel for you position Tarran, I really do. I was angry when I came in here. You can understand that. I would have caused you more pain than Brydon's men could have dished out to you over a month in one short hour. But I see now that you are as much taken by surprise by this as I was."

          "He didn't murder Dallen." Tarran managed to rasp.

          "Oh? And I suppose you were there to see it were you? No of course you weren't. Neither was Tseng. But of course, the little shit has my boss completely entranced by his lies. Tseng doesn't trust me. I don't blame him. I wanted his position after all, I won't deny that. But I know loyalty. Evidently your friend does not. Not if he has left you here to rot. You have been away for, what, two, three days, more? Your friend has not yet come looking for you."

          Tarran shook his head. "No. Reno wouldn't-"

          "Wouldn't what? Do whatever he could to attain his goals? I saw his stash of money. He didn't like living in the slums did he? Well no sane person does really. But the amount he had horded from such a low paying job, it seems almost obsessive wouldn't you say?"

          Tarran didn't comment. He couldn't. Reno had made no secret why he was hording his money. He wanted out of the slums. It didn't matter, Arkette read his silence as affirmation itself. 

          "He'd already killed on Turk. With the loss, he knew the Turks might be looking to recruit. It's a job your friend would like is it not? To be a Turk. To be known. Feared. To be out of the slums."

          "He hates Turks." Tarran replied stubbornly. 

          "He hates Turks because he is jealous of us. Our power. Our money. We aren't hunted. We hunt. Your friend was sick of being hunted wasn't he? Being on the bottom rung." 

          Tarran was far too dazed and far too scared to bother telling Arkette what _he  thought was the truth. That Arkette's ideas of trying to get Tarran onside would have had a far better chance if Arkette had not driven a dagger through his foot then tried to turn him against one of the few people he still trusted implicitly in this world. Neither managed to endear him to the man. Though it might also have had something to do with the points Arkette was making. And he did have a few good ones. And none of them were really something he might not think Reno might be motivated to do given his shitty lot in life. Tarran knew this because it wasn't so different from his own. But he wasn't going to go so far to believe that Reno had killed those Turks. Well, he __had  killed Hawkly fair enough. But not on purpose. Not with malicious intent to murder the Leader of the Turks at any rate. And he had not killed Dallen. Tarran would be willing to stake anything on that. He wasn't sure what Arkette was trying to prove to him anyway. He couldn't be so dense as to think he'd win Tarran over with this hollow little talk. _

          "You get used to it." Tarran responded non-committal.

          "Yes I suppose you do. But that does not mean that you have to live with it forever."

          There. That was it. Something in Arkette's voice has changed just that little bit. He wasn't trying to win over Tarran. Arkette knew there would be no way he could change a man's allegiance so easily. Oh no, he knew Tarran knew the truth. What he was telling Tarran was what _he wanted to be the truth. And if Tarran chose to think this way, Arkette was willing to…what? Help Tarran in the same way he was suggesting that Reno was trying to help himself?_

          "True." Tarran replied guardedly. He wasn't good at this cloak and dagger stuff. It was time for a blind stab. "But it's hardly an easy task, getting out of the slums. Bettering yourself."

          Arkette gave him one of his thin smiles and folded his arms casually, the bloody dangling from the loose fingers of his right hand. "Not on your own. But it can be easier if you had the right help and guidance."

          "I see." Tarran answered. And suddenly he did see. 

*****

          Reno watched as the last of the black tinged water disappeared down the drain before shutting off the faucet. The stood there for a few moments, staring at the drain before stepping out of the recess and grabbing a towel. 

          The towel was thick, fluffy and white. Three things Reno was not used to in a towel. Towels in the slums were thin, coarse and brown. Always brown. In fact up until about the age of sixteen, Reno had thought the color white was a sort of off beige in reality. This towel soaked up water. This towel didn't feel as though you were drying yourself with sandpaper. And weirdest of all, this towel would've been long enough to wrap around Dart's waist without difficulty. Not the usual sort of towel that was barely big enough to wrap around your leg. Back at Rankin's, Reno had a nice towel that he had managed to rescue from a terrorist leader's house before it had been fired. It wasn't too rough, it wasn't too coarse, and it was just long enough to wrap around his slender waist. It was blue. And Tarran had nicked it so often Reno had trouble getting a hold of it anymore. But now it wouldn't matter. Not on the Plates where everyone had ten of these really _white monsters each. Reno should have been happy. No longer would he have to dig his towel out from beneath Tarran's bunk and turn a blind eye to his most favored possession's mistreatment, smell and newly acquired stains. He could own towels of his own. A place of his own. __Things. But he wasn't happy. He hadn't chosen this new ideal of having things. It had been chosen for him. Again. A better man would have shrugged, called it fate and seen his good fortune and relished in his wealth of fluffy white joy. But Reno was not a better man. He was paranoid and stubborn. He might have achieved his goal to get out of the slums. But he hadn't wanted to become a Turk to do so. Or rather he hadn't wanted to accomplish it based on someone else's whims, not to mention their own sense of self preservation. _

          Reno left the small bathroom and headed back into his hospital room with the white towel wrapped snuggly around his waist. There he opened his closet. Hanging almost innocently inside was a black suit, tie and a meticulously starched white dress shirt.

          Reno groaned. "I'm gonna fucking kill him."

***

          "Tseng, he killed Dallen."

          Tseng paused after putting on his jacket and turned back toward Arkette. The other man's arms were crossed over his chest, his stern face ever sterner than usual. 

          "I know this."

          "But you went ahead and told the President that he was your trainee."

          "The President was standing right there. I couldn't very well stand there and try to explain how a Turk killer, ex Turk trainee ended up in a doomed chopper with his son. As I understand it, he did save Rufus after all."

          "Yes Tseng." Arkette replied patiently, almost as though speaking to a child rather than his boss, "After killing a group of Shinra techs and wounding about six guards. For all we know, the boy manufactured the whole incident for this end. And here you are giving him the desired result."

          "For all we know, correct. I've heard your theory before. I for one, am sick of not knowing. He is a danger to us and Shinra out in the city. At least here we can keep an eye on him."

          Arkette's expression lightened a little at that. "You mean to use him. Find out what he knows and who he is working with."

          "Exactly my thoughts." Tseng acknowledged. "There is no need to give ourselves more work here. Not when we have an advantage. Don't think for a moment that I have forgotten Hawkly or Dallen."

          "Of course not. And when we are done with him," Arkette smiled slightly, "Well accident's do happen to a lot of trainees in the field. I understand Sir."

          "Above all, I want him to believe that his position here is legitimate. So, contact the MPD and have the search called off and tell Gafford what I told you. I don't want him to suspect anything."

          "What about Rufus?"

          "I'll handle Rufus." Tseng replied in a grim tone. "I'm going to the hospital now in fact."

          Tseng walked out of the office leaving Arkette to his own thoughts. After Tseng had left, his expression turned dark once again.

***

          Tseng stopped just before entering the hospital room to see Reno regarding himself in a mirror on the wardrobe. The new Turk trainee didn't look happy at all and was constantly moving from side to side in front of the mirror, shaking his head and muttering to himself. 

          "Something wrong?" Tseng asked stepping into the room properly.

          Reno started at Tseng's voice, another indication that the young man was still out of sorts and fixed Tseng with a baleful glare.

          "I don't feel comfortable being dressed up like a mortician." Reno replied grimly gesturing down at his black suit. 

          Tseng looked him over with barely disguised disgust. It would seem that even in a suit Reno managed to still look like a scruffy slum rat. The white shirt was already creased in some spots and untucked and unbuttoned enough to allow a narrow vee of pale skin to show of his chest. The tie was absent entirely and he had neglected the dress shoes entirely in favor of his always worn black boots that were scuffed and forever caked in an unidentifiable grey kind of dry sludge. His hair, after the attempt to rid it of the black die had left him with streaky dark auburn hair that fell around his eyes at the front and stuck up at odd angles on top.

          Tseng gestured toward the mess. "Would you mind fixing that up?"

          "I would actually." Reno shot back. "What's with this all anyway?"

          Tseng took a deep breath and started over toward his reluctant pupil. "You are my trainee." He reached Reno and none too gently started to straighten his clothing. "Trainees wear black. You wear blue when you are no longer my trainee."

          "Oh yes?" Reno replied trying to ignore Tseng's attempts to tidy him up. "Then I guess I get to wear a cute little suit like yours right? Gee Tseng, who'd you have to blow to get _me admitted?"_

          Tseng finished with Reno and returned to the wardrobe for the abandoned tie. "The President being there offered me an opportunity, I took it. Had I not, you would be dead." He found the tie and tossed it toward Reno. "Put it on."

          "And what does Arkette think of all this?" Reno asked holding up the black tie and eyeing it warily.

          "Arkette believes I did it for two reasons. One, to save my own reputation. And two, to bring an otherwise dangerous young man under our control and possibly use for information." Tseng straightened and looked him sternly in the eye. "Two reasons that will keep you alive for now. So don't do anything to dissuade Arkette from thinking that what I'm doing is the right choice."

          "In other words, don't pick a fight. Fine." Reno answered distractingly holding out the tie, "There's no point in this."

          "I mean it. You're my trainee and you will look the part, no arguments."

          "No really, I can't wear this."

          "Reno-"Tseng began warningly.

          "I can't tie the damn thing alright. This is the first time in my life I've even touched one that I haven't just been using as a handy hold to try and strangle the wearer."

          Tseng, with another deep sighed snatched the dangling tie off Reno and proceeded to do the task for him. "You will have to learn."

          "Why?" Reno answered. "It's not like this is permanent."

          "And what makes you think it isn't?" Tseng asked matter-of-factly.

          Reno opened and closed his mouth a few times attempting to find the right answer to that. Eventually he replied, "Well, I just assumed. I mean I've already said no for one thing. For another, Tseng, you don't even like me. I infuriate you remember?"

          Tseng finished with the tie and took a step back to inspect his work. "Yes you do. Aggravating you may be, but you are still a skilled young man. I do not like Arkette and Gafford but that doesn't mean they aren't good Turks. Which is part of my problem. If I am going to sort this mess out I need people, skilled people I can trust. Unfortunately that leaves me with very few people to choose from. They are two and I am one. I'm sorry to say that I need you. And I will need you even more once this is over and done with. You are too dangerous an opposition in the field, I may as well recruit you. And I have no more time trying to talk you into taking the job."

          Reno let this sink in for a moment before a slow smile started to spread across his face. "You need me?"

          That smile caused Tseng a moment of uncertainty. "Yes, but I-"

          Reno waved him off and his grin grew more profound. "Okay."

          Tseng, who was ready for another round of arguments was at a loss of what to say. "What?"

          "I said okay. If you really needed me that much, you should have just said."

          With that, Reno picked up the last of his things and started to move passed Tseng toward the doorway. He was almost to the door before Tseng managed to refocus his shocked mind. "Wait, Reno. You forgot something."

          "What?" 

          Doubtless Reno hadn't noticed the extra belt slung around Tseng's waist. Or if he had, he hadn't shown any interest. Now though, Tseng unhooked the rather beaten black leather belt and its burden and held it out for the younger man to take. It was Dallen's nightstick. With it was the belt that Dallen had especially for carrying the weapon. At the hip was a leather loop that the slim weapon slipped through and held at the fatter section of the handgrip. Two long leather straps dangled down from the underside of the loop that could be used to secure the weapon more firmly at the grip, or down further to tie to the wearer's leg so it wouldn't encumber movement when the weapon wasn't needed in a hurry. 

          Reno took the belt and looked it over for a few minutes. "You sure you want to give this to me?"

          "I was never trained to use such a thing. Guns, swords, I can understand. And Dallen gave it to you. Otherwise he would have left it for me to find. It is yours."

          He'd lost his smile when Tseng had handed him the weapon. He looked properly grim as he notched the belt around his waist. 

          "I don't think it's exactly a weapon you can have a lot of training with." Tseng continued. "But you have quick hands, you will learn. Also, you will learn how to handle a gun and to improve that impromptu and ungainly style of fighting you have. But the President is expecting you to become a full ranked Turk soon. I will also need your proper date of birth, name and origins to make a file."

          "Well that won't take long."

          Tseng frowned. "If you don't know then you will have to make it up. But it must be as close to true as possible."

          "Well you know my name at least."

          "Your full name Reno." Tseng told him patiently. "Father's last name is preferable. Mother's last name will suffice."

          Reno groaned. "I'd have more luck trying to scale the Shinra Building with my teeth."

          "I'll give you a while for that one. But I need the other two before you become a Turk. You should also make time to collect your things from Rankin's and visit your friends. They will need to be told what is going on." Tseng told him walking passed him toward the hall. For now we have a rather more difficult assignment."

          "Which is?"

          "We need to convince Rufus not to kill Arkette."

*

          "I'll kill him!"

          "Rufus calm down."

          Reno watched the Vice-President's red, flushed face with a certain amusement. Rufus was still confined to hospital because the doctors were still flushing the rest of the rather powerful tranquilizers out of his system. At the moment, Rufus didn't look to be the least bit still drug affected. After listening patiently to Tseng for the last half hour while he filled Rufus in on all the details the Leader of the Turks had been keeping from him for the past couple of weeks, Rufus' face had suddenly gone red. After the part where it got to tampering Rufus' helicopter, the yelling had started in earnest. 

          "Why didn't you tell me all this? It might have been helpful to know before I was almost killed Tseng!"

          "Because I didn't want anything like this happen by dragging you into it." Tseng explained. "But judging by how things are going, I thought I'd better tell you now. I was hoping you'd see the wisdom in leaving the situation alone and let me handle it."

          "Give me one good reason not to go after him? Wouldn't this all be finished then?"

          "Good point." Reno muttered to himself at his spot back by the closed doorway. Neither of his companions appeared to have heard him. 

          "No. These are Turks, not traitorous company pencil pushers. Your father will want to know what is going on and we have no hard proof against them. The only witness is Reno who is only a new trainee. It won't stand up against two Turks. And they could be far more dangerous if they become too paranoid. Who knows how many allies they have in Shinra and the rest of the city." Tseng pointed out.

          "And while you are ferreting this out we all have to hold our breaths and hope they don't try and kill us again?"

          "Something like that."

          Rufus huffed. "All this for some stupid promotion."

          "It's not that stupid." Reno grumbled under his breath. This time though his grumblings were heard. 

          "What did you say?" Rufus questioned sharply.

          Reno cleared his throat. Tseng had told him to stay quiet and leave this to him before entering, but Reno had had enough of the Vice-President's whining and if he didn't speak up, he was going to do something stupid. For about twenty minutes now he had been fantasizing about how funny the Vice-President's hair would look after a bolt was fed to it by Reno's new weapon.

          "I said that it wasn't really stupid. It's a mere promotion to you. But Turk Leader gives him a straight speaking voice to the President regarding handling of the cities more violent citizens. Not only that, but Turks are not people slum folks are ever willing to cross. Being Leader would give him that much more power. Imagine for a moment that one of the terrorist leaders of the slums had a man with the reputation of the Turks behind him. Or a Turk himself even. They command a lot of fear and respect. And no one in Shinra would be the wiser. Who but the Turks ever have much of an ear for what's going on down there anyway?"

          "You're talking of great conspiracies." Rufus answered in a dismissive tone. 

          "Yeah well, I'm not saying that's what he has planned. Just an idea. But a position like that gives a lot more power than I think you give it credit for. I think you rich assholes tend to forget that us slum rats have you outnumbered by almost three to one sometimes."

          Rufus rolled his eyes to show how much credit he gave that idea. Even Reno had to admit that it did seem a little far-fetched himself, but it was better than listening to Rufus continuing to rant.

          "So will you allow us to continue?" Tseng asked eventually.

          Rufus took a few moments to ponder this as he stared out of his window toward the city. Eventually he replied, "Yes alright. But I want to be kept in the loop this time. Perhaps this time I may be able to help." He turned his eyes toward Reno this time. "I think sometimes you slum rats underestimate how well some of us rich assholes can handle ourselves."

          Tseng moved to leave Rufus' presence before Reno could add anything else. Out in the hallway though, it couldn't be stopped.

          "I sure don't underestimate their egos."

          "You shouldn't on his word either Reno."

          "Why not?"

          Tseng stopped forcing Reno to also stop and face him. "Imagine for a moment that Turks were trained as those in the Soldier Program. That they are sometimes trained from a very early age. Sometimes from as young as fourteen or fifteen."

          "That would be something." Reno admitted. "But you don't do it."

          "Between myself and Soldier, as far as fighting technique is concerned, we have been training Rufus since he was thirteen."

          Tseng left Reno in the corridor to openly gape toward the door of the room they had just left. "Well fuck me."

***

          The catcalls and whistles followed Reno all the way through the building. Instead of being embarrassed or telling them to shut up, Reno decided to enjoy the attention. A week before they might have been looking ready to kill him, but today the compliment of Rankin's place seemed content to tease him. Another piece of proof that rumors did indeed travel swiftly in the slums. While the uniform of a trainee wasn't all that known, they'd no doubt heard the rumors. And Reno was wearing a suit. That in itself was enough to spark off the amount of attention he was receiving. They didn't get many people in nicely tailored suits in here. And certainly never one of their own.

          "Spiffy getup Reno. Why doncha come sit on ol' Charlie's lap like a good lil' dog and I'll get th' nasty men to leave ya 'lone." 

          The old weathered merc sitting in the second floor commons patted his lap and smiled an overly lecherous grin toward Reno as he entered.

          "Don' do that Charlie. He's a Shinra man now. Don' know where that ass mighta been!"

          "Think I might be able to guess if he keeps walking 'round here like a stiff."

          The group of men at the small wooden table erupted into hearty laughter at that. Reno smiled at the group sweetly before doing just as Charlie suggested and draping a loose arm over the man's shoulders. 

          "Don't listen to them Charlie he's just recounting his old Trooper days in Junon." He turned to the second man who had spoken, "If you want to know how the Turks handle things, keep going. The only thing of mine you'll find embedded up your ass is my boot smart mouth."

          He patted Charlie's head and stood up moving further into the room till he was able to flop down onto a slightly rotting couch across from one of the people he'd been looking for. 

          "At least they're not trying to kill you anymore." Ann observed. 

          Reno sighed. "Both are pretty familiar by now." Reno ran a hand through his untidy hair and gave the woman his full attention. "So what made you guys quit the surface? I went looking for you at the safe house."

          "Funds." Ann shrugged. "And Rankin wanted a report. You still need us?"

          "I still want them followed. But I better go see Rankin before handing out orders. I was actually looking for Tarran. Seen him?"

          "Nope."

          Reno blinked in surprise. "What do you mean 'nope'? He was gone more than a day before I left yous. And I've been away for a few days. Are you telling me he's been missing for almost a week?"

          "Seems so."

          "And nobody has thought to go looking for him?" Reno asked starting to get a little worried.

          "This _is _Tarran we are talking about." Ann reminded him. "Another week, yeah, I'll share your worry. Till then," She shrugged again, "My guess is he got distracted, ended up in some woman's bed and hasn't remembered what was so important."

          "He's not that unreliable." Reno told her. Then added, "Most of the time. Don't suppose I could bully you into tracking him down at all?"

          "Don't suppose you could get off your suddenly so important rear and do it yourself?"

          "I figure I have about a day's worth of freedom before Arkette puts someone on my tail. If Tarran ran into trouble I probably couldn't get in to help him before the cavalry were alerted."

          Ann suppressed a groan and stood. "Fine. But I expect special favors after  this Reno. And you get to explain to Rankin why I've left the building."

          "Ann you're a gem." Reno told her also standing and giving her a playful swat on her butt and making a hasty retreat toward the exit before she could change her mind.

*

          "Reno dear boy! Come take a seat."

          And it was after those few words that Reno realized he was in deep trouble.

          "You alright Rankin?"

          "Absolutely glowing." Rankin answered gesturing Reno to a seat with a warm friendly smile. Rankin was usually only this sunny when Reno was in _really _deep shit. 

          "What did I do?"

          "Aside from losing two of my men and wallowing my funds for apparently no great result, absolutely nothing. Why did you even need to ask?"

          Reno winced. "I really am sorry about John. Despite his taste in friends he was a good guy. I didn't think Arkette would stoop to killing him outright."

          "And Tarran?"

          "Ann's out looking for him. Hope you don't mind."

          "Mind?" Rankin positively beamed, "Why should I mind. It would seem that from this moment on I am after all the Turk's personal play thing. No Reno, it seems I should be trying to kiss your ass, not kick it. Tseng's asked for another favor. He seems to think continued tracking of the other two Turks could be best done with my men."

          "Oh."

          "Oh no Reno. I believe the right word you were looking for was, 'Holy Fucking Shit.'"

          "That's three words."

          "I know how many gods damned words it is Reno!" And like that, the merry tone was lost. "Do you know how a Rebel faction functions Reno?" Reno knew better than to respond to the hypothetical question. "It takes information from informants and uses it against the opposing side. Information from _both _sides. That's how things work in this city. If I become known as a Turk friend, I will lose one side of my business. Do you know how a group can function without that extra input? I'll tell you, and this is important, It CAN'T!"

          "Nobody knows about this."

          "And I hope for both of yours and Tseng's sakes that that continues." Rankin took a deep breath and settled back into his chair reaching for his cigar. "And here I thought my problems left when I fired you."

          Reno offered up a crooked half-smile, "That's what Corneo thought."

          "Do I look like a greedy obese lecher to you Reno?" Reno decided not to answer. "Do I deserve the same fate as one?"

          "No Rankin."

          "Good. I will sort out the details for the tails with you before you leave. You can have Andy and Dart again. You've already appropriated Ann, a job I expect paid from your own pocket by the way, and I'll feed more up to you should you need them. Personally I would rather no more know the details of your little fiasco. I suggest, strongly, that you make do. After you leave here, I will place an order out over the building. You can come back once in an emergency. Any more than that and your life will be measured by how long it takes Dart rip your head off. Are we understanding one another Reno?"

          Reno winced again. "Perfectly."

****************

Notes: Unfortunately one of those chapters with little action. But you know what that means for next chapter don't you. So we've passed the three quarter point. Past the third climatic point which took almost two chapters on it's own. The fourth and final will begin to unfold very soon and will be bigger better longer and let loose. Mwahahahahaahhahahaha. But neway, Reno is now a trainee, Tarran is a prisoner, or is he, Ann is being sent off to the rescue, Tseng is still in major danger and Rufus has now been bought up to the front. Things are getting pretty tight so stay tuned and don't forget to review.

_*evil cackle*_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

_http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/_

_Don't forget the mailing list for updates, general funnies and previews._


	17. Making Nice with the Natives

I Must Be Insane.

__

By AF

****

Chapter 17

Making Nice with the Natives.

The knocking on his door caused a deep groan as he hauled himself out of his comfortable spot on the plush couch and put his folder to one side. He really didn't need the interruption. He had been comfortable, reading over his finished work for his father and now someone was here knocking on his door at well past any hour he might be expecting and reasonable person to be bugging him. So, frown fixed firmly in place, Reeve got ready to greet whoever it was that had come to annoy him. 

What he hadn't expected upon opening the door, was the hand pressed firmly against his chest and pushed resolutely backward as his visitor entered the room, nudging the door closed as they stepped fully inside. It had happened so fast that he barely had any time to register what was happening and who was doing it. Just before an angry retort came out of his mouth he was forced to swallow it. Dark eyes intently watched him, gazing steadfastly into his own. Dark hair framed the woman's slightly scarred face that was of smooth, soft looking cream colored skin. Attractive if you didn't mind the sharp eyes with their dangerous glint. Here was a woman that never could look innocent enough to be called beautiful, but attractive in that sharp way all the same.

"You the hacker?" She asked shortly.

Reeve blinked at the question for a second before realizing what it was she had asked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Suddenly the sharp edge was gone and she smiled. Though the expression was hardly warm. "Good answer if I were Shinra." The smile twisted, "But I'm not, so don't lie to me. I'm looking for a man named Tarran. This is the last place he was seen that I was able to figure. The man in the lobby ever so helpfully told me that he left here with you." All the while she had been talking, Ann had been continually backing him further into the room. Reeve hadn't seemed to notice. "Now unless our Tarran has been hiding out somewhere, turned coat, or has simply given up and left Midgar, all of which I sincerely doubt, that makes you, my tall, dark honey eyed hacker the last somewhat friendly person that saw him."

The back of Reeve's legs hit the couch forcing him to sit down and look up at Ann. She smiled rather predatorily down at him.

"You really didn't need to try and intimidate me." He told her boldly, "I would've told you anyway."

"Oh I wasn't being intimidating." She made a show of looking him over, "This is me being nice. If you weren't so cute my knife would be at your throat. Trust me, the moment I want to be intimidating you'll notice the difference on account of your screaming incessantly." She paused for a breath. "Tarran?"

Reeve nodded and let out a shaky sigh. "I'll go get the address I last left him at."

Ann smiled sweetly and patted his hair. "Good boy."

****

Reno put on his most brave face before attempting to waltz into the Lounge. His first day at work as a trainee hadn't exactly been all he might have hoped for and everything he might have feared. Being a trainee meant that he was only allowed out on errands and other 'safer' Turk business. But even those were for the very settled recruits, not a new one like Reno. Well, that was one of the reasons Tseng gave him. The other and most important was that he didn't want Arkette to think that Tseng trusted Reno. Arkette could not know that Tseng was on the former Rebel Group member's side. That also meant that he seemed to be confined to the Shinra Building during all work hours. The major downside being he couldn't get away from the other two Turks unless they were sent out into the field. Something Tseng was secretly reluctant doing these days more so than sending out any new trainee. But Reno couldn't very well go out of his way to avoid them either. If the ruse was to work, Reno had to appear happy to be there, proud to be part of the Turks and be outwardly optimistic, friendly and joyful. Easier said than done. Reno felt ready to start poking eyeballs out with the blunt pencil he'd found on Tseng's desk.

That was another thing he was finding hard to come to terms with. Whenever he ran across anything even remotely useful just lying around unattended he tended to pocket the object without any real thought as to what he was doing. He did it often when wandering around places as obviously wealthy as this. A trait that he found hard to shake. So far he'd pocketed three pencils, a stapler, three business cards, five computer disks and one nametag that read: John Singer. Not a real profitable hoard, but then again if people around Shinra had the tendency to leave their wallets lying around, Reno would have been far wealthier after his first time loose in the building and he probably wouldn't even be in this mess. Probably. So now was his opportunity to go make nice with the locals and hopefully negate getting his head blown off for his efforts. He wasn't optimistic.

The door to the Turks Lounge opened with a 'swish' and Reno braced himself. He was greeted with an empty room. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or annoyed. He was sure Tseng had told him they would be here. With a casual shrug Reno tucked his hands into his pockets and walked into the room proper. There wasn't much new to see, he'd already been in this room before. Though he had to admit, at the time he had hardly been afforded the luxury of snooping. Another trait he was finding hard to kick. 

All in all the Turks Lounge was just as he remembered it except for a few slight differences. There were a few more magazines, the lava lamp was turned off and the guitar was over against a wall in the corner instead of resting against one of the sofas. Gods, even their sofa was navy blue. Reno threaded his way through the cozy room, flipping on the lamp as he went and straight toward the drinks cabinet. This was perhaps one perk he might like in his new job. A fully stocked, large, drinks cabinet. He poured himself a generous double shot of the whiskey he remembered Dallen feeding him and went over to look at the guitar. He didn't have the vaguest idea whose the guitar might be. It was such an odd thing to be in an office environment anyway. Especially one like this found in such nice digs. The thing had to have been twenty well used years old and probably cost a weeks worth of meals in the slums, second hand. Reno set his drink down and picked up the instrument, carrying it with him back to the sofa. Plucking a few strings Reno grinned at the off notes it made. It must've been Dallen's. He should have known. None of the other Turks seemed to be the type to own such an instrument let alone keep it at work. And sure enough, upon close inspection, Reno could make out the words, 'Sam's a rock legend' etched into the not so smooth wood finish. Only legend was spelt with two A's, rock was missing a C and the whole proclamation was finished in two words instead of four. Reno ran his finger over the etching with a deep frown on his face. Eventually he got up and put it back where he found it before picking up his drink and browsing the books on display on the shelves opposite. Nothing very interesting, though extremely diverse. A couple of books on philosophy, an engineering and architecture volume, a couple of comics, stacks of old travel guides and a shit load of poetry. Reno shook his head and continued on to the stereo. The music collection seemed just as diverse. Classical seemed the dominant, a few rap discs, and some techno. 

"What a sad bunch of assholes." Reno muttered pawing through a few of the more palatable discs of the collection and pocketing them. Finally he found some music that passed for metal at the bottom of the stack. After wiping some coffee stains off it he put it into the player.

Settling back onto the sofa he started picking through the magazines on the table. Again he was disgusted by the range. Again it seemed as though there was only one Turk with any true taste and all he had left was a few ripped motorcycle magazines and some debatably sick porn even for Reno's somewhat base standards. But at least it was a sign of life in an otherwise sterile room. Not the room itself, the room looked homely and comfortable. But if anyone actually took the time out to sort through this shit they'd see just what a stiff bunch of depressed weirdoes hung out here. From a group of people that made their living doing the seediest jobs for /the/ seediest company in the world, they would find poetry, art and philosophy. In Reno's reckoning there was something distinctly wrong with that. A job like theirs required a chance for fun. To lift their spirits. The only thing classical music and poetry ever made Reno want to do was go throw himself off a bridge after a shitty day. No, these people didn't seem to know how to unwind and let loose. And that one spark in their midst that had seemingly known how to do it had met his end at the hands of one of his co-workers. No wonder the group had fallen apart so dramatically. Without more of that spark the group was getting stagnant.

Reno pushed the magazines away from him in disgust. Luckily for him that the magazines turned out to be so uninteresting, he got to see what lay underneath. The wooden coffee table had to be at least fifty years old. Probably more. The lacquer had long since worn off and Reno was positive that no wood should come that distinctive shade of gray/yellow. But it was a sturdy piece of furniture. Something that had obviously resisted the ages of torment dwelling within the Shinra Building. It was covered in something that almost looked like a family tree. Well if families could be reproduced without the aid of another person that is. With one name carved in at the top, the tree like diagram ran almost three quarters of the way down the coffee table with four distinctive branches along the way. In the last few rows Reno began to see names he recognized. Rankin with a line leading down to Dallen. A man named Valentine, if you could believe that, with a line down to Tseng. And Arkette along with the newest carved name than ran down to Gafford. The branch that contained Hawkly's name stopped with the last Leader of the Turks. Four distinct branches, two of them apparently already died out. Though underneath Dallen's name was carved a line, just no name. It looked as though the whole tree had been carved into the table top with a sharp knife. Carved obviously with a sense of pride. Obviously, since this was the first time that any of the lines had died out, this was about to change. Very unexpectedly, Reno felt a pang of regret.

The door across the room 'swished' open. 

Reno's head snapped up and toward the door, his eyes alighting on the slightly murderous ones of Arkette's. Reno swallowed thickly and covered up what he had been studying with the magazines.

"I suppose I should say, 'Welcome to Shinra'." Arkette began, his eyes following what Reno was doing before settling once again on Reno. 

Reno was surprised, Arkette sounded almost pleasant. He wondered how someone could sound like that when their features made them look most noticeably ready to kill someone.

"Thanks." Reno replied as glibly as he could muster.

Arkette smiled evilly to show he hadn't finished speaking yet, "But I won't. The truth is that you aren't very welcome, Terrorist." Arkette wandered further into the room, that seemingly constant shadow of his named Gafford following on his heels. He stood before Reno and folded his arms.

"I'm not actually a terrorist." Reno told Arkette, knowingly sounding like he was rambling, "I was a part of a rebel group. I think 'Rebel' is more what you were looking for. Though perhaps now, 'Ex-Rebel', if you don't mind."

And this was where Arkette's smile deepened. "How about 'Murderer'?"

Reno screwed up his nose rather comically, "Nah, doesn't suit. How about 'Set up by a lying sack of warm, three day old, crusty shit', sound? Has that ring of truth to it doesn't it?"

He was being stupid. Tseng had told him to play nice and here he was, first day here, antagonizing Arkette. The one thing Tseng had seemed to overlook in all his plotting was that Arkette wasn't going to be as nice to Reno as Reno was supposed to be to him. He could hardly sit here and take the insults with a nod and a smile if he was meant to be believable. 

"Oooo, funny asshole," Gafford intoned taking a menacing step toward Reno, "I'd like to see you laugh with my gun shoved up your ass."

Reno lifted an eyebrow, "Oh I dunno, I expect it might tickle."

Arkette put a restraining hand across Gafford's chest. "Now now, we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves. So you've managed to worm your way into the ranks, I'll tell you now that you aren't the first slum rat to have managed it, and you probably won't be the last. But one thing is certain, we now work together, so we must try to get along."

Reno couldn't help but blink at that. "What?"

"What?" Gafford echoed somewhat belatedly.

That smile came back in full force. "After all, /I/ can't be known to start fights within the team. /I/ am our Leader's second in command."

Reno's expression darkened with Arkette's pointed phrasing. Gafford's understanding was a little slower in coming, but he didn't seem to miss much in the insidious wording. 

Arkette's whole expression brightened after that. "I should leave you and Gafford to 'get along' then shall I?"

Gafford made an almost comical show of cracking his knuckles. Reno might have laughed had he not realized what trouble this put him into. If Reno was caught on his first day fighting with a fully fledged Turk, Arkette would probably make a big deal over it and try to get him fired or something. It seemed like a very Arkette thing to do. Absently, Reno stuck his hand into his pocket and figured the metal name plate. It seemed like a crap weapon, but it was all he had for the moment. 

"Please do." Was Gafford's reply.

"I'd rather you didn't."

Reno was startled to see the familiar form of Rufus leaning casually up against the doorframe, watching the room with a cold gaze.

Arkette took pains to not show his own surprise at the sudden audience. "If the Vice-President insists. But we were only-"

"I insist." Rufus commanded before fixing his eyes on Reno. "You can have him after I am done with him."

A seemingly genuine smile lit up Arkette's face at that. But he still responded, "Sir?"

"You told me this is the scum responsible for Dallen and the chopper right? Well, I would like to personally welcome our newest trainee. And I'd prefer it if you haven't had the fight beaten out of him before I get to him. I have, I think, a more personal score to settle with this boy than you."

"Of course Mister Vice President. But I was in no way-" The pledge for innocence was a little lost by the almost gleeful look.

"I wouldn't presume to think you were going to be involved in harming the boy Arkette, not from one in such an elevated position. As you wouldn't for I."

Arkette nodded in complete understanding.

"Now some privacy if you please." Rufus requested.

As soon as Arkette and Gafford had exited the room, Rufus closed the door and locked it, leaning back against it with a contented sigh. 

"Now where was I?"

Reno got to his feet and eyed the Vice-President a little warily. "About to beat the snot out of me I believe."

"Oh yes." Rufus responded as though he'd just remembered. Bringing his arm forward, he sent it backward against the door where his elbow hit it with surprising force. Reno looked on curiously while Rufus went ahead and did it again. "You could at least say 'Ow' a couple of times you know."

Finally Reno understood. Rufus' door bashing was to make anyone outside the room think Rufus was indeed beating Reno up. Probably against the doorframe. Clever, if of course Arkette and Gafford had bothered to wait around and listen. Then again, they weren't exactly the most trusting pair Reno had ever met.

"Would it help?" Reno questioned.

"No, not really. They wouldn't be able to hear you anyway. Part of the charm of the Turk's Lounge." Rufus grinned. "It would just make me feel better."

"Ow." Was Reno's deadpan response.

"Let's take this fight over towards the lounge shall we?"

Reno nodded and followed the Vice-President over to the lounges but stayed standing, leaning against the bookcase on the opposite wall.

"Well?" Reno asked.

"Well what?" Rufus responded almost innocently.

"What do you want?" Reno tried again.

"What makes you think I want anything more than to save you from those two traitorous bastards out there?"

"Because you're Shinra. What's more, you're /a/ Shin-Ra. You didn't help me out for the good vibes."

"Alright, so I didn't." Rufus admitted. "I need your help."

"Mr. Vice-President, Sir?"

"Yes Reno?"

Reno smiled. "Go fuck yourself."

Rufus' sure smile deflated a little at that. Obviously the man wasn't quite used to being spoken to in that way much. "You will help me."

"Oh yes, and which part of 'go fuck yourself' are you having trouble understanding?"

Rufus leant forward on the couch enough to settle his elbows on his knees. "You do realize that I can withhold your induction into the Turk ranks don't you? That if you refuse to help me I can have you sent back out onto the streets and there is nothing you or Tseng could do about it."

"Oh see now you're just trying to make me cry." Reno responded sarcastically. 

"I find it hard to believe that you don't care."

"Yeah well believe it. I personally fail to see the threat."

Rufus' brow creased in confusion at that. "You really don't care do you." It wasn't a question. "How can you not want to better yourself?"

Rufus' honest mystification was almost enough to make Reno laugh. "Better myself? That's a bit of a stretch when talking about taking a job in Shinra isn't it?"

"I don't just mean the job. I mean having a well paying job at all. Having money, respect, the chance for advancement."

"It's not exactly something I've much thought about. Where I come from you have two choices. You stay in Midgar, or you try like hell to leave. And it isn't much of a choice at that."

Rufus sat back now with an amused frown. "You like that don't you?"

"Like what?"

"Like being such the poor little slum boy. It's very convenient. Your excuse for everything. Being from the slums gives you the excuse to be abusive, offensive, and part of a Rebel faction. And you can be all this knowing that if you didn't you would starve, or get beaten or whatever. That so long as you are still alive you can think that you're actually better than everyone else because you've achieved that little bit better than where you started."

Reno's expression had darkened somewhere along the way and he now stared at Rufus with open disgust. "It's not an excuse. I'm abusive and offensive because I am an asshole. The slums didn't necessarily make me into one. But yes, I did unsavory jobs in order to feed myself. I know not everyone has to, but that just so happened to be something I excelled at. And I think that I am better than everyone else, Rufus, because out of /most/ of the people I've met in this hole of a city I am better. But I will tell you something, being an asshole aside, I doubt very much that if I had happened to be born topside, that I would've ended up where I had, do you?"

"There are people from the slums who do proper, decent work Reno, so don't give me that crap. And don't assume that Plate people had such a delightful life in comparison because their families had more money."

"My heart bleeds for you." Reno replied dryly.

"Yes well, here's some advice. You aren't better than everyone else. You aren't smarter than everyone else. If you displease me, I will fire you. And if that doesn't fill you with fear, know that if I do fire you, Arkette and Gafford will probably be looking to put a bullet in you because you will have lost the last ounce of protection you have in this city. And you won't get any special considerations from me because you may've had a harder life than a lot of other people here. I couldn't give a shit where you came from or what you did before coming here, but Tseng has told me that your job here is legitimate and because of that I will treat you exactly the same as I would anyone else. And if I choose to treat you roughly and demand things of you, you will jump to obey because I am your superior and you owe, if not your loyalty, your paycheck and well-being to me. Is that understood?"

Reno smiled at Rufus mockingly sweetly. "Aw Rufus, that was touching. Can I get a hug now?"

Rufus' own facial expressions betrayed him a little at this point and he almost smiled. "Knock the shit off. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just lay off the speeches would you?"

"Deal." Rufus stood. "Now, what we need to do is dig up whoever Arkette and Gafford have been talking to lately. All the techs that were present on the roof when I went up in the chopper have turned up dead, apparently by your hand. Is that true?"

Reno shook his head. He hadn't heard about that.

"Didn't think so after what Tseng told me." Rufus let out a theatrical sigh and raked his fingers through his hair. "If I personally didn't trust Tseng so much I'd be very paranoid about now."

"You probably should be anyway. Your performance earlier might have helped, but I think Arkette will only believe it so long as he believes Tseng. The moment that thin trust fails you're just as dead as Tseng or me." Reno pointed out.

"He took a big chance trying to kill me before."

Reno shrugged. "Yeah, well, he's got everything to lose if this doesn't work out for him."

"True, he probably figures he's got nothing left to lose anymore." Rufus chewed his lip for a moment. "Oh well, we can ponder this later. Right now I need to find a few things out. Come on."

One of Reno's eyebrows shot up at this as Rufus began walking toward the door to the Lounge. "Uh, didn't Tseng tell you to stay out of this?"

Rufus turned and favored Reno with a grin. "I believe he mainly told me not to confront Arkette. And besides that's why I have you with me."

Reno looked resigned as he trailed behind Rufus. "You know for someone that just gave me that big speech about being my boss, you sure go to a lot of trouble to not directly displease Tseng too much."

"Shut up, Reno."

***

Ann woke up and stretched a little in the evening light. 

She knew she should leave and get on with her assignment. She also knew that she would stand a better chance of sneaking around and staying hidden while looking for Tarran at night rather than day. At least that is what she was telling herself. The fact was, she just didn't want to move. Not just yet.

A light sleepy groan and a shifting of weight beside her made her smile smugly thinking there was much better things to be doing during daylight hours than chasing her wayward friend. 

Ever so slightly, she rolled over and planted a kiss on the space of warm smooth flesh she found there while she let her hands wander off to do more interesting things. Another groan now and the body beside hers diligently turned over to face her, sweeping his arms around her into a tight embrace and kissing her back.

Oh yes, much better things. And nighttime really was worth waiting for.

**********

_Notes: Alright, so this was nasty of me. Not only am I very late posting this. It isn't a very long chapter to boot. You'll have to excuse me on that. I must admit, I've started having some difficulty pulling things together now that everything is coming to a close which I assume at this point will be about Chapter 20. So setting up everything for the big finale is taking a little more time than previously thought. Not to mention my ongoing severe computer hassles. I'll ask you to be patient with that guys and I'll try my best to wrap this all up well before April. On a better note, due to half-assed polling, this will not be the last in this series. But I will warn that only the next one after this one will carry directly on from each other. And not all of the fics will be written by me. *A sigh of relief* But the next one is shaping up to be an interesting fic so I'll tell you more about it when it gets closer to the end of this one. For better updates join the mailing list._

And yes, I know there wasn't much Tarran in this chapter. Don't go all paranoid on me, I know a few of you now believe in this Original Character Curse but don't fret. But then again, don't be too optimistic either. *giggles* You'll just have to keep reading to find out huh. 

Don't ask me about that last bit, I have no idea what possessed me apart from my seemingly stupid need to make that boy into some sort of nice guy sex object. Hope I didn't make it too silly.

Grinning inanely

AF

anime_fearie@excite.com

__

All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar

http://www.geocities.com/anime_fearie/

__

Don't forget the quizzes!


	18. Desperately Seeking Tarran

I Must Be Insane

__

By AF

****

Chapter 18

Desperately Seeking Tarran.

Well frankly, the place looked like a brothel. 

She wasn't surprised when she realized that her first assumption had been, in fact, correct. It also wasn't surprising that this was the last place that she had tracked Tarran to. She envisioned him spending the past few days here, spending money on young pretty girls, drinking cheap booze and generally just being Tarran. And she would have wholeheartedly believed that, picked up her feet, gone barging in and demanded that the sex crazed oaf get off his backside and get back to work, had it not been for three small things. Reeve had told her that they had gotten to this address unwittingly, Tarran would never bail on Reno for a prostitute, no matter how pretty, and finally, Tarran just didn't have the kind of money needed to spend this much time in a place like this. At least not comfortably. One thing was for sure; If Tarran was here, it wasn't by choice.

Then came her problem on how to get in and take a snoop. Doubtless Tarran had brazenly walked in announced himself in a loud voice and hoped like hell to get lucky. Probably in more ways than one. That was not a good way to do things. And being the place that is was, there was not a hell of a lot Ann could do to get in covertly either. A place like this wasn't likely to have a handy, rarely visited storage room that had a conveniently open window opening out onto a side alley. The building itself fit snug up against those buildings beside it and behind. All seemed to be separated by an extra wall of brick and concrete. Basic design for this area. Cheap, spacious buildings that presented nothing more than good rent and a major firetrap. Also, even if it did have that easy to scale fire escape, places like this didn't have storage rooms. And if business was good, they definitely wouldn't have any rooms on the upper level that were likely to be empty either. Anything sneakier than that was, sadly, above her expertise. At Rankin's they had people especially for this kind of stuff, and Ann wasn't one of them. It was supposed to be what they had people like Reno for.

Ann crossed her arms under her breasts and leant back against the corner of the building across the street. She had been here for almost an hour now, hidden in the night-time shadows, watching the entrance to the building. She had seen nothing overtly sinister, and also nothing to help her gain entrance either. She tapped her foot impatiently on the sidewalk as she thought.

If she were a guy this would be so much simpler. Go in, pretend you were a customer and later, pretend to get lost. Ann couldn't do that. She admitted that being female didn't necessarily discount her entirely from visiting such a place, but she felt sure that if that 'later' proved to be too much later, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to go through with the plan in it's entirety. What she needed was a guy here. She thought vaguely about going back to the hotel and dragging Reeve along, but discarded that idea almost immediately. If anything went wrong, she couldn't rely on him. He was a rich kid from Junon who had probably never even thrown a punch in his life. She had tried to ring Reno earlier on his new PHS, but it had been turned off. As far as she could see, her options were running low. Unless she was willing to go in there and express the want for work (something that would seem highly suspicious coming off someone like her) she had to bite the bullet and call for backup. One of Rankin's boys would take too long getting up here. She had only one other alternative.

*********

"I totally believe what you are saying and think it is wise and accurate. You have thought this through well and gotten information I didn't even consider was there. But there is no fucking way on Titan's sweaty ass you are coming with me."

Rufus merely rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Why not?"

"I can think of many very good reasons," Reno began, "One, it's already been proved that Arkette wants you dead. Two, unless you are the new type of battle trained Shinra executive, I can't rely on you. Therefore you become a liability rather than a help. Three, and this is a very important one, if Tseng finds out he'll beat me senseless, hang me from the 70th Floor for three days by my balls then finally shoot me and let me bleed to death in front of him for his own personal amusement." Reno took a breath. "Should I continue?"

"You've said nothing to dissuade me." Rufus told him with a wave of his hand. "Arkette wants your head probably more than mine. And what Tseng doesn't know won't hurt him. I'm coming with you."

They had probably picked a very bad place to have an argument. They were standing in the middle of a street of a night, in a well used part of Midgar Upper Four. They were also holding up traffic. 

Hastily, Reno grabbed Rufus and led him forcibly out of the middle of the street and onto the pavement. There he set in to glaring at the smug blond man in the immaculate white trench coat. The Shinra Heir stood out like, well, like an immaculately dressed son of a very wealthy man in Midgar. He would have looked less conspicuous dressed in a neon green cape and a purple suit. 

But even Reno had to admit, the silly son of a rich bastard had come up with the goods. It had never occurred to Reno to really check extensively inside Shinra for information relevant to the problem at hand. So far he had been working from the outside and he had never really thought about what he might if he had the resources of the Shinra. Resources he'd never had. But Rufus had grown up with those resources. From the moment he'd gotten out of hospital, the man had come up with a plan. Shinra computer systems didn't prove to be a problem to explore for this man. Even the ones he wasn't supposed to have access to. And what he had come up with had made Reno slap his forehead for his idiocy for not thinking of it first. Or at all for that matter. It was simple. Check Arkette's PHS records against his building sign ins. PHS calls weren't meant to be tracked. And for all intents and purposes couldn't be. But the phone records weren't so secure. At least, not where Rufus was concerned. So far he had been able to come up with at least three interesting leads. None of the numbers were Shinra designated. One of them was called with some regularity at all hours. The other two, not quite as regularly but were almost always punctuated by Arkette up and leaving the building directly after the phone call. Apparently on some errand for Shinra, most likely a bogus reason. One of the two numbers belonged to a man that owned a shop across the street. Rufus had directed him there but had failed to stay put when Reno elected to go investigate.

"And the bit about being one of those rare battle trained executives?" Reno prodded.

Rufus merely smiled. "Extremely rare, but not nonexistent. You just watch." Rufus made to cross the street but Reno grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Even if I let you come, you can't go in like that."

"Like what?" Rufus asked mystified.

Reno rolled his eyes and gestured at Rufus' suit, "Like the bloody Vice-President of Shinra Inc., you fucking idiot! You're not well known, but you aren't unknown."  
"Guess I spent too much time in Junon the past few years." Rufus muttered.

"No," Reno corrected impatiently, "If you hadn't that would make you /more/ known."

"I didn't mean it like-"

Reno interrupted, "If your coming you have to ditch the duds. Those clothes are almost as known as you are."

"Yes? And what would you have me wear. Some of your clothes perhaps. The latest line of slime encrusted slum wear?" Rufus asked sarcastically.

"That's not such a bad idea." Reno remarked seriously. "But let's not go too far. We want you not easily recognized, not mistaken for a slum rat." Reno grinned. "Even though it'd be worth it just for the amusement value."

Rufus' eyes darkened. 

"C'mon," Reno prompted, "I've got an idea."

*

The shopkeeper looked up from his papers as the bell jangled above his door announcing a customer. He saw two men standing in the doorway outfitted much the same in jeans and non-descript shirts. All tasteful and smelling of money. But also not enough to make the shopkeeper forget one simple fact.

"We're closed. Come back tomorrow." 

He then went back to cataloguing his stock making a mental note to remember to lock up after closing on the chance that people didn't seem to be able to read the bright white and red lettering on the sign on the door pronouncing the shop as being, in fact, closed. It was happening too often. But then again Midgar was brimming with the stupid and self important. Stupid for not understanding a simple 'closed' sign, and self important for thinking that such a sign was not intended for them merely the more common people.

"Don't suppose you'd make an exception?" One of the men, a lean looking red-headed young man with a lop-sided grin asked.

"No." Replied the shopkeeper.

The other, the older blond man seemed to get a little miffed and went to say something before his companion caught his arm and shook his head. The red-head continued to talk. 

"That's a pity."

"I suggest coming back during business hours young man."

"Can't. Work an' all. I can pay you extra for overtime."

This was at least enough to spark a little interest for the shopkeeper. He looked up at the pair and narrowed his eyes. He could scarcely remember seeing a more suspicious pair in his shop. It intrigued him more than the thought of money.

"Depends what it is you think I can help you with."

At the sign of encouragement, the red-head fixed his face with a charming smile and walked further into the shop till he was leaning across the glass counter from the shopkeeper. The other followed more slowly, looking over his surroundings in curiosity. The shopkeeper watched them both.

Reaching down to his belt, the younger man pulled out something from a loop there and laid it down on the counter for the shopkeeper to see.

"I've been told you're the best Weapons expert in Midgar. I want to know what you think of this. It's an Electro-Mag Rod or something like that."

The shopkeeper dutifully looked down at the weapon with a trained eye. He was honestly impressed. It had been many years since he had seen a weapon like this.

"You don't know?"

"The guy who gave it to me," The young man began with a vague wave of his hand, "We didn't have much time to talk."

"I see." The shopkeeper said. And he did. Most likely, it was stolen. "You want to sell it I take it?"

If the young man realized he was implying it's hot nature, he didn't say anything to dispel the belief. "No, not sell it. I like it. But I think it might need fixing."

"Why's that?"

"Either it's not doing what I want it to, or I just don't know how to work it properly."

The shopkeeper picked it up and began looking over the various buttons and whatnot. "Well, what do you think it's doing wrong?"

"Well, when I press this button here," Reno reached over the counter and pressed the appropriate button, "it should charge right? And that gauge on the other side is fixed on the level of charge right? Well at the moment it's fixed on a low level. Sort of like a stun. But I've found that anything below the next setting up, and it won't discharge, see?"

The young man reached over once more and depressed the larger red button by the handgrip. A spark erupted from the weapon then a fizzling sound. The shopkeeper looked very surprised for a moment before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he slumped to the ground behind the counter.

Reno smiled. "Guess it does work after all."

Rufus looked a little irritated. "What did you do that for?"

Reno planted his hand on the counter top and vaulted himself over it. As he walked down to the far end of the counter he replied, "Because I needed to look around without this guy," He jerked his thumb back in the direction of the stunned shopkeeper, "looking over my shoulder while I did it. I could've broken in later tonight, but I have a rule against breaking into weapons specialists shops. And that rule is; don't be so fucking stupid. They usually have all sorts of alarms, traps and many firearms at their disposal. And that's just where I come from. I might've been able to do it. But that would include casing the place, getting blue-prints, talking to people the works. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered. And walking in here and bonking him on the head wouldn't have done much good either. This way we might be able to convince him it really was an accident and none will be the wiser. And killing him was out of the question. We need information before we start killing off Arkette's associates. For one thing, for all we know, Arkette might just be a favored customer."

Reno picked up the phone and started unscrewing the mouthpiece. "I want you to go down to that drugstore we saw down the block and buy some bandages and some burn cream."

"Why?"

Reno fitted the bug into the mouthpiece and dropped the phone back into its cradle. He made an irritated noise of his own. "Because we're responsible honest, people of Upper Midgar who just accidentally stunned a man, with a bolt of electricity no less, that was trying to help us. If we want to look even more suspicious than we already do, we'd leave the man on the ground to wake up and make his own conclusions. We need to by time otherwise this won't work."

"I know the reasoning," Rufus responded in a condescending tone of voice, "I'm just asking why I'm the one doing it. Since when did I become your errand boy?"

Reno vaulted back over the counter and stood in front of Rufus. He was a little disappointed to find that Rufus was a good three or so inches taller than him. "Since this is my plan and you agreed to it."

"Fine." Rufus relented and left.

Reno shook his head and began to make his way toward the back room. He could swear that half the time Rufus only argued with him for the pure enjoyment of it. Next time, he vowed, he leave the bastard back at work.

***

Upon entering the building Tseng immediately fixed a deep scowl on his face. He hadn't like the idea before coming in here. Now that he was here, he liked it even less. 

Dressed as he was, he could have passed easily for one of the upper class in Midgar. Though one of the less conservative ones. The were ones he wore only rarely. Rarely ever being out of uniform. But it had been stressed to him /not/ to come in uniform. But rich. Not a suit. Well, he had followed the instructions as best he could. The leather jacket, black pants and silk maroon shirt were what he considered casual. But to the keen observer, almost of excessively expensive labels and designs. And he wore it like he could more than afford it. Which was the truth.

The effect seemed worth it. He hadn't been standing in the lobby more than five seconds when a young woman sauntered over toward him. She favored him with what she must have assumed to be a charming smile. It lacked warmth though. But as she looked him over, clothes and all, it was more than appreciative. 

"Welcome Sir. May I be of assistance to you this evening?" Her smile deepened. "Some entertainment perhaps?"

Tseng fought the very intense urge to roll his eyes. "I suppose so."

*

Ann waited patiently by the side wall, waiting. Eventually she heard the low whistle come from above her head. Raising her eyes to the window above her, she saw Tseng lean out of one of the upper story windows. Wasting no time she picked up the coiled rope by her feet and braced herself to throw the weighted end up to her companion. Tseng caught the rope on the first try and disappeared for a second only to re-emerge and motion for her to start climbing. It took her a little time to shinny up the rope, and needed help for her to climb inside the window, but she made it with minimal noise and bother.

They were in a hall. A long, but deserted hall. Ann was about to ask him a question before Tseng put his finger to his lips motioning silence and led her off down the hall. A couple of doors down he paused and entered, shutting the door softly behind them. The room wasn't all that big. One lamp, a coat hanger, a cheap looking set of drawers and one practically naked woman lying on the expansive bed. She looked asleep.

"You kill her?" Ann asked curiously.

"No." Tseng replied shortly. And when he didn't offer more information Ann shrugged and started taking off her own clothing. 

Tseng decided at that point to go listen at the door just in case someone might be coming. He faced away from Ann. She couldn't help it and laughed. 

"A regular boy scout aren't you Tseng? Don't tell me a naked woman can make you blush?"

With a dark look on his face Tseng turned slightly back to her. "Perhaps. But I assure you that that naked woman isn't you."

"Oh I'm hurt." Ann pouted as she began replacing her own clothing with that of the unconscious woman on the bed. The flimsy white clothing seemed to be something of a uniform for the women that worked here. And to be honest, Ann had felt less naked without it on. Even with the new clothing, Ann would never stand up to close inspection. The place was big enough that she mightn't be noticed in passing by another girl. But if she were stopped by someone with any authority they were in trouble. While Ann was good enough looking, her shape was one of toning. White scars could be seen in several places on her skin. And she was at least five or more years older than the oldest of the girls currently employed here that Tseng had seen. But the disguise wouldn't have to last for all that long anyway.

Nodding to Tseng when she was ready, the two left the room and made for the end of the hall.

***

"Hey mister, you alright?"

The shopkeeper groaned and tried to move his arms up to clutch his pounding temples. His arms were a little reluctant to move. 

"What-" His mouth was so dry the word came out as a little more than a croak. He licked his lips and tried again. "What happened?"

Slowly a face hovering above his own came into focus. The concerned looking face winced. "Ah, that was my fault. You were shocked. I didn't know the weapon would go off. It wasn't working properly, I told you that. Bad time for it to start working again huh? Here,"

The man helped him into a sitting position while his friend put a glass of water to his lips. The shopkeeper drank greedily before coughing a little, forcing him to stop. 

"Easy there," The man cautioned him, "You've had a nasty shock. Your hands are a little burnt but we got some salve for you and some potions. You'll be fine in a little while, but you'll probably feel like shit for a while."

The shopkeeper couldn't disagree with that. Regardless, he shook off the young man's supporting hands and sat by himself, drinking the water and watching his two customer's. One of them at least looked properly concerned. The other just looked impatient to leave. This being Midgar and all, he was more suspicious of the concerned one. But his anxiety seemed genuine enough so he just concentrated on sitting there till his head stopped spinning.

"Do you need us to help you upstairs?" The impatient one asked after a few moments of silence. 

"No no. I'll be fine. You boys can go I think." He wasn't worried about them raiding his shop. Everything still looked in place and he'd already emptied the till earlier in the night.

"Are you sure?" Asked the concerned one, the red-headed young man.

"Very. But before you do go, you owe me some money."

"May I ask why?" The other one asked.

"That electro-rod."

"What about it?"

Despite everything, the shopkeeper forced a smile, "Fixed it, didn't I?"

***

The knock was gentle at first. Then, as no answer came, the knock became more insistent. Finally when it looks as though nobody would answer the door, the reluctant intruder carefully opened it, cautious to avert his eyes from the interior of the room.

He thought he heard the woman from inside the room make a relived noise and the man make an undoubtedly agitated one.

"Sir," The intruder began respectfully. "We have a problem. My employer thought you best see."

It was almost a growl now, "Can't it wait?"

"No Sir, I don't think it can. It's rather urgent. It would seem one of your co-workers is in the building Sir."

This was enough to cause some stir. He watched the Turk get up and began dressing with hurried impatience, jerking his clothes on as he walked toward the door and joined his escort out in the corridor. "Very well, lead on."

***

"The people in this city are greedy bastards." Rufus commented stuffing his wallet back into his pocket as they exited the shop. The Vice-President had been forced to pay. All Reno had was the five hundred or so gil Tseng had given him this morning in order for him to find a place to stay till he got paid properly. But Reno had ideas for that money and had claimed to be broke whenever it had come to settling a bill. He might have even felt guilty if he didn't know Rufus couldn't have been richer if his blood were liquid gold. 

"Bad influences I guess." Reno said with a half-smile.

"Very funny."

They remained silent till they had crossed the road and walked out of site of the weapons shop before stopping to confer. 

"I didn't have time to ask you before he woke up. What else did you find?" Rufus asked.

Reno reached inside his shirt and pulled out a few sheets of nearly white paper, handing them to Rufus. "What do you make of these?"

Rufus looked over the papers for a while with the aid of a nearby streetlamp, brow creased. "I don't really know." He said eventually. "What are they supposed to be?"

"Not too sure of that myself." Reno answered. "That's why I pocketed them. Well that and the name on the top of the sheets where the customer's name is supposed to go."

"Richer." Rufus read out-loud. Then, "So?"

"Never mind that for a moment. Look at the sheet. It's an order form for a specialty job. One of the first places I looked and see what jumped out at me."

"I'm not following." Rufus admitted.

Reno sighed. "I'm not explaining this very well. Let's start again. The form itself orders something big and expensive to be built. Not surprising in a city whose citizen's sometimes have more money than brain cells. But the form doesn't specify what has been ordered. It has some sort of code instead where there is room for a lot more description."

Rufus stared at the code Reno was pointing to before shrugging. "So what? Maybe he was building something that already existed and that was the code for it. The shopkeeper wouldn't need to write down lots of descriptions if he could easily use a code. Besides, maybe it's not even a code. 'WB-X943'. Shinra uses names like that in our own weapons department."

"Then why is it a specialty?"

"It's expensive. A hundred and fifty thousand gil it says right here. That's not excessive, but it isn't pocket change either."

Reno didn't comment of what Rufus perceived to be 'excessive'. "Fine, that aside, it was too easy to find. It was second on the top of a pile, neatly stacked on the guy's desk. This was the only one of its type in the pile. If there was an investigation-"

"So it's a priority job." Rufus crossed his arms. "I hope this isn't all you've got."

Reno bit down the urge to make the apparently ignorant man see his point. The truth was that Rufus had some good points of his own and there was nothing Reno had that could dissuade Rufus from his line of thinking. Reno just had a /feeling/ he was onto something. 

"Okay, back to the name."

"Richer. So? I've never heard of it."

"I have. It's the last name of my best friend. One of Rankin's boys."

Rufus peered at the name again as though he'd recognize it. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am!"

"No I mean, it might be a common name."

"The initial 'T' kind of gives it away. Besides, I sent him on an errand a day or so before your mishap with the helicopter. Nobody's seen him since."

Rufus chewed on this for a while. "Do you think he's betrayed you?"

"No." Reno answered sternly. "No way. All that this means is someone knows his name and is using him. I have someone out looking for him now, but I bet I know who might be responsible for him going missing. It's too much of a coincidence." 

"So," Rufus neatly folded the sheet and tucked it into his pocket. "What do you want to do now?"

"I want one of us to go back to HQ and get on that phone tap. We might have bought ourselves some time playing dumb with that guy, but he'll notice this paper missing sooner or later and hopefully give Arkette a call to tell him we've been snooping." Reno gave Rufus a grave look, "Arkette never trusted me, but as soon as that guy gives him a description you're sunk. He'll know you were there."

"Oh? Am I the only man in Midgar with blond hair and blue eyes?"

"No, but you're the only one that walks around like he owns the joint. Your mannerisms give you away. He'll know you're with me. That won't necessarily point the finger at Tseng, but we better warn him as well." Reno shrugged his shoulders, "No matter. We couldn't keep this charade up forever anyway. We may be in danger, but probably only a little more than before. This way he'll know we're onto him. I'm hoping he'll do something stupid and panic."

Rufus gave his companion a curious smile, "Arkette panic? You don't know the man. I've seen him sitting on a bomb with ten seconds to defuse it and never even saw him blink. That man doesn't panic."

"Gafford might." Reno offered. "Out of everyone Arkette might choose to confide in, I wouldn't be surprised to find that his own partner is the weak link in all this. If Arkette can steal away with one of mine and play dumb, we'll see if I can do the same with one of his people."

"Gafford is a Turk." Rufus reminded Reno carefully. "This Richer guy is your friend fine, but he's no Turk. More people are going to notice."

"You're probably right." Reno conceded sourly. "But we can at least put some pressure on him. We need to move fast now. He will know we know something and he can't halt his plans now. If he does, he's screwed cause it only gives us more time to expose him. And he'll need at least two of us dead."

"How do you figure?"

Reno scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, "Well, a story is only good with backup right?"

Rufus thought about that for a moment. Finally he said, "You're full of shit."

"I am." Reno allowed. "But you don't want to hear what I really think."

"I'm not just some stupid son of a rich bastard Reno." Rufus set his chin nervously and looked Reno in the eye. "He'll have to kill me above all won't he?"

Reno could have lied, but by this point he didn't see the point of it. "Yes. You're the only one that could convince your father of Arkette's treachery without having anyone else to back it up. At the moment, we have no solid proof apart from my word. Because we haven't already had him killed gives him a good indication that Arkette knows this. But that'll only take time. The moment you've got proof, Arkette will know he's dead. We can't just kill him now cause like you said, he's a Turk. And trust me, being branded a Turk killer isn't a good way to survive. He wants Tseng dead, he's wanted that from the start so he could be Leader of the Turks. He wants me dead because I know what he's up to and I'm understandably a pain in his traitorous ass."

"Also because if you achieve full Turk status before Tseng's dead, you might be line for promotion above Arkette." Rufus added.

Reno's eyes widened slightly at that. "I didn't know that."

"Yes well, you are Tseng's trainee. But you're too young and too new. Heidigar and I decide our Turk Leaders. And if I don't go along with it and instead nominate you, it'll be like it was before when Hawkly died. Whoever proves themselves first, my father decides, wins. As simple as that. Before I nominated Tseng and Heidigar nominated Arkette." Rufus smiled. "I won."

"No wonder the asshole hates me so much."

"You know, I could kill him."

"What?" Reno asked surprised at the sudden statement.

"I would never be branded a Turk killer. I'm the Vice-President. I could kill him and it would only be covered up."

"Could you?" Reno asked seriously. "If it came to it?"

Rufus was forced to pause here. "I don't know. I've had similar training. But I don't have near enough experience. My day to day life doesn't call for killing my business associates with my bare hands all that much." Rufus admitted dryly.

"We can't risk the chance he'd kill you. Just stay in a lot of public places, you'll be safe enough till he can find someone brainless enough to kill you for him. If nothing else, it'll get up his nose. It's time to make him squirm a bit huh?"

"You have a plan?"

"Always. But first, I want to check out the rest of these numbers, get back to Tseng with what we've found then track down Tarran. The stupid bastard's gotten himself into trouble, I know it."

***

"You recognize him I take it?"

Arkette came forward and peered at the black and white security monitor. Oh he recognized him alright. He was just a little surprised about it was all.

"You know I do. What's he doing here?"

"He came in just before you did. We didn't really look at him closely at first figuring he was just another punter. Till of course he started sneaking around with that woman."

Arkette stared at the monitor as the man on the screen crept carefully around a corner and stalked down the adjoining hall.

"I never believed you were this obtuse Tseng." Arkette scolded the image. "Usually so careful."

"The security cameras are well hidden I assure you." Brydon informed his associate. "We wouldn't wish to scare some of our more influential customer's away."

"Wouldn't want to give them any privacy either." Arkette noted casually. He wasn't really concerned with that. Right now his major concern was creeping around the supposedly secret basement levels of the building he was standing in. "Did he get through on his own, or did he have help?"

"A bit of both. We didn't want to let him know we were alerted to his presence. We didn't know how you would want to deal with this. So we let him wander. He hasn't found anything of any interest as yet. But the both of them will be coming up to our more active areas soon enough. We need to decide what to do. Now."

Arkette nodded, thinking. "He's becoming a nuisance. But I don't want him dead. Not yet."

"Captured?"

"Preferable. But first, I want to put on a play for my inquisitive boss and his girlfriend."

"You want her killed?"

"No. Keep him, we'll let her go. I can use this to my advantage after all." Arkette turned to address Brydon. "Where's the boy?"

"With the others in room six."

"Good. Put him back in his cell. Make the keys handy. He'll need to look a little beaten." Arkette smiled. Oh yes, this would work out even better than he could have expected.

***

"We have a problem."

Tseng looked around Ann toward the end of the corridor to see what the woman was talking about. Three men had just turned a corner and stepped out in clear sight of the pair. As Tseng's saw them, one of the men let out a shout and started running toward them. From the few seconds he saw of them, he was able to make out the nasty looking guns in their hands and he wasn't keen to hang around to get a better look. He grabbed Ann's wrist as she went for one of her concealed knives and tugged her onwards.

"We can't win." He told her as they ran around a corner.

They were severely under armed in comparison. Ann had her knives, that was all. Tseng, just one little Shinra issue handgun. They were here for stealth, not for warfare after all. They soon came to an intersection and skidded to a stop in front of another pair of men that had been coming from one of the other corridors. Tseng quickly knocked the gun out of the first man's hands then drove his palm into the man's nose. A precision hit that killed the man almost instantly. Ann was a little less subtle merely hitting the man once and dragging one of her knives across his throat. 

They could still here their pursuer's coming after them, and now they could also hear the sounds of running feet from more than one direction. They had been discovered.

"Where to?" Ann asked anxiously.

"This way." Tseng said started off down the quietest corridor.

They ran on for a few minutes, the sounds of pursuit neither diminishing nor growing louder. Eventually they came out into a larger section of what Tseng had started to think as a maze of corridor's. Here there were two branches. One looked much the same as the last. The other Tseng could see was wider, lined with maybe four wooden doors. It looked like a jail. 

Tseng was inclined not to be trapped in the jail and was ready to continue on down the other corridor before Ann defied his notion and started toward the doors. 

"What are you doing?" Tseng questioned sharply.

"My assignment!" She looked through open panels on two doors before she seemed to stiffen. "Tarran! Tseng, quickly, those keys by the entrance."

Tseng hesitated. The sounds of pursuit had seemed to slacken a little. Either he and Ann had lost them, or they were beginning to be a little more cautious after finding their dead comrades. He was still itching to run on, but Ann's insistence decided for him. 

Snatching the keys off their hook, Tseng jogged up to the door Ann was standing in front of and unlocked the door. As soon as they heard the click, Ann pushed open the door and raced in, kneeling beside a somewhat bloody form crumpled on the floor. Tseng stepped just inside the door, but not far enough that he couldn't see the corridor outside.

"Tarran? Tarran, are you okay?"

Tseng heard a groaned response as Ann tried to roughly help the injured man to his feet. Then Tseng started to hear the guards once more. "We need to move."

"We can make it." Ann assured him supporting her groggy friend.

It was then that Tarran ceased being a dead weight. He lifted his weight off Ann and stood for himself, watching the two with a grin on his face. A grin made a little too hideous by the amount of blood over his bruised and cut face. "I wouldn't bet on that." He answered.

Before Tseng could move, the boy smashed his elbow into Ann's face, stunning and dropping the woman. Tseng was halfway across the cell when Tarran fluidly reached around and pulled a gun hidden underneath his torn shirt in the waistband of his jeans and pointed it unflinchingly and the Turk. "Don't move."

Tseng was dumbfounded. Wasn't this supposed to be Reno's friend? The one he trusted implicitly? Ann had recognized him, it must be true.

"What are you doing?"

Tarran's smile grew wider as he answered, punctuated by the running footsteps of the guards, "Bettering myself."

*******************************************

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Notes: Well that certainly looks bleak. And I know that most of you now hate me. The odds against our heroes aren't looking too good now are they? Ooooo nasty. Things are really getting close now!

Well I promised a longer chapter and here it is. Hope it was worth the wait. Oh and Race, don't yell at me, at least he isn't dead. *hideously evilly cackles*

I try my best,

AF

Btw, please if you are reading on FF.net, review! I'm trying to break the 100 threshold. Egotistical of me, but I wanna! Puuuuuuulllleeeeeezzzzzzzzzzz!

anime_fearie@excite.com

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All stories are kept on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar

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Don't blame me, I just live here.


	19. Reno The Shinra Turk

I Must Be Insane.

By AF Chapter 19 

Reno The Shin-Ra Turk.

          Reno hadn't slept. 

          He'd been up all night chasing seemingly useless leads, all that could very well be Turk related for all he knew. And now Reno was taking the 500 or so gil Tseng had given him yesterday and going to buy a car. 

          It was supposed to be for finding a place to stay till he got paid properly and could find an apartment. But Reno didn't care whether he had a bed to sleep in or not, he'd had places to sleep before, he'd never in his life had a car. 

          He didn't have a license, but neither did half of Midgar. He also didn't really know how to drive very well. He'd driven sure, after all you don't make a very good car thief if you can't drive. But none of that mattered. Reno wanted a car, so he'd buy one.

          He was under no delusions about the type of car he was going to get for a mere 500 gil, but he wasn't picky. 

          He walked into the car yard and gave the cars a cursory glance as he wandered through the lot. But he didn't remain undisturbed for very long. A man in an off yellow sports jacket greased his way over to the wandering youth and smiled a mouthful of straight white teeth. 

          "Something I can show you son?" The man began in a charming tone. "Your dad buying you your first car is he?"

          At the tone, Reno looked down at himself realizing that he was still wearing the clothes he'd had Rufus buy him last night. He'd been treated with disdain by Plate people for so long, he had been utterly unprepared for this guy to think he was just some spoilt rich kid out shopping with his daddy's money. Maybe he shouldn't have let Rufus pick out the clothes. Nor been talked into combing his hair. He'd rather he be treated with disdain than this fake charm bullshit anyway. Well, maybe he could make use of it.

          "In a matter of speaking." Reno returned trying to force his voice into the sophisticated tones matching someone like Rufus. He kind of did it. "My father is being cheap though, I'm afraid."

          The man laughed lightly and nodded abruptly stopping when Reno added, "So I thought this might be the best place to look."

          The man didn't let his smile drop for a second though. "Well, we have some moderately priced cars here as you can see. All well cared for and running smoothly. Most have only had one owner."

          Reno doubted that very much. Even with his untrained eye he could see the bubbling surfaces on some of the cars where someone has done a quick paint job over rust spots rather than fixing them properly. And if they had only had one owner, their owners must've died some ten years ago from old age. Some of these cars were older than Reno by almost a decade.

          "Well that does sound promising." Reno said instead. It was then that Reno spied an off-green colored car a little over from where he was standing. He didn't know what it was that caught his eye about it, merely that it made him give it a second look before he wandered over to take a better look at it.

          "Ah, the young Sir has a good eye. This is a Palisade Panther. Midgar made car of course before the Shinra took over most of the market. Truly a collectable, only a hundred or so were made I believe."

          Well that was true enough. He now knew the reason why the car had caught his attention. He remembered seeing one when it had been fairly new back when he was little. He remembered that deep green shiny car resting on the road in front of his house. The chrome of the bumper bars gleamed, the stereo blared so loud some people had complained about it for days afterwards. And the best of course was that it had sounded like the loudest thing Reno had ever heard when the engine kicked over. While Reno had little to no real knowledge about cars, and little real interest, but he had researched this one. The dealer was right about them only making a relatively small amount of the cars. But not because they were meant to be collectables. Mainly because they had been recalled in the first year. It seemed they had a problem with overheating and catching fire.

          Reno drooled.

          While this car wasn't shiny, the bumpers didn't gleam. He wanted the car that he remembered. And who knew, with this new job he might just get the money to do it up. Restore it and make it look like that memory.

          He didn't care how it went. Probably a mistake.

          "How much?"

          The dealer seemed surprised at Reno's quick question. It took him a few moments to give a reply.

          "Three thousand gil."

          Reno snorted and momentarily lost that noble air he was trying to maintain. "You've got to be fucking with me. This piece of shit isn't worth the money to dump the rusting hulk in the ocean. I'll give you a tenth of that."

          The man appeared a little taken back by this. "I did tell you this is a collector's item. I couldn't possibly let it go for less than two thousand. Any less would be robbery."

          Don't tempt me, Reno thought to himself. "Four hundred." Reno reasoned.

          "I don't think you understand young man. You can't offer me something so below the asking price. I suggest that if you want this car so much that you request to your father to give you a little more money. I assure you the car is worth every gil."

          The request gave Reno an idea. "I guess I could bring him in here. But he wouldn't be happy. He's always so busy at Shinra. But I'll give him a call anyway."

          The statement didn't seem to impress the man any. Half the city worked for Shinra. 

          Reno dug out his PHS and dialed.

          "Yeah, I'm looking for Tseng of the Turks. Tell him it's important."

          The car dealer's face finally lost its smile when his mouth fell clear open. "Your father is Tseng?"

          Reno nodded and made shushing motions with his hand as he was put through to the offices. He didn't know what exactly he was going to say to Tseng when he picked up. His small dilemma was solved anyway when Rufus picked up.

          "Rufus…What's-. He's what?! They what? Alright, I'm coming in." Reno hung up and stared at his phone as if it was the phone's fault for what had just gone wrong. For a moment he totally forgot about where he was. 

          "Did you mean," The man cleared his throat, "uh, Rufus as in Rufus Shinra?"

          "Yeah." Reno answered distracted. "Look, I've gotta go."

          "What about the car?" The dealer called out after Reno as the younger man began walking away.

          "I don't have time to stand here with you haggling."

          The dealer gave Reno a nervous smile. "Well for one as important as yourself…" He swallowed, "How does five hundred sound?"

          Reno stopped and swiveled round to look at the sweating man. "Alright. You talked me into it."

*****

          "What the fuck is going on?" Reno asked as he entered the office. "I practically had to offer sexual favors to get up to this floor without a pass."

          Rufus looked up at the irritated redhead as he stormed in and blinked in surprise. Nobody ever just stormed into the Vice-President's office like that. He was about to berate Reno for his lack of discipline when the Turk-in-training stopped mid-stride and stared open-mouthed at the man taking up the visitor's chair in front of Rufus' desk. The man in question took another puff of his small cigar and glanced around at Reno for a moment.

          "Took yer fucking time Reno. Working for the most powerful corporation in the world and still can't managed to get anywhere on time."

          "Rankin? What-"

          "Give your overworked mouth a rest for a moment will you and take a seat like a good boy. If you did it when you walked in you would know what was going on already."

          Rufus marveled at the effect the older man's words had on the usually so undisciplined ruffian. Without another word, Reno took the other spare chair and gave both of them his full attention.

          "Right well," Rufus began, "Since I found out this morning, I've had all incoming calls for Tseng forwarded to my office rather than the usual extension hoping to get his calls before the other two Turks do. So far no one apart from you has called him. That's not unusual, but disappointing."

          "What happened?" Reno asked.

          Rufus gestured toward Rankin to fill in. 

          "Well, you should know that Ann turned up this morning down in the slums. Not dead," Rankin told him seeing Reno's worried frown, "but beat up. She got to the building though and was able to tell me what had happened before she lost consciousness. The doctor was seein' her when I left, but he tells me she'll be fine. 

She told me that last night she got Tseng to help her out getting into a brothel in Sec One Ann liked as the last place Tarran had been to. They got in and took a snoop. This place had a basement the size of the building above it and twice as busy. Guards, security and holding cells. Ann was right about Tarran. They found him in one of the cells." Here Rankin paused for a moment and took another puff, his eyes on his cigar. "She says that when they went to get him out of the cell he turned a gun on them. Says it was a trap. He knocked her out and she woke up early this morning in a dumpster around the corner. Tseng wasn't with her. She reckons he's been taken."

Reno was wearing this look of bemusement. "Are you trying to tell me that Tarran turned on her? That he's working against us?"

"That's exactly what it looks like." Rufus cut in. "But that's not the issue-"

"Of course it's the fucking issue!" Reno snapped. "Tarran wouldn't betray us. Not for anything!"

"For enough money I've seen men who would turn on their own mothers." Rufus said with a wave of his hand. "It happens Reno."

Reno scowled at Rufus before turning his eyes toward Rankin. "You don't believe it do you?"

Rankin seemed to think carefully before answering. "I believe that Ann is not lying. I believe that Arkette, or at least one of his associates has Tseng now. I was just as surprised as you that Tarran had something to do with it. Turks can be very persuasive when they want to be and Arkette was skilled with shit like that. I've seen men convinced they were dead after a couple of days with him. I think Tarran helped set them up, yes. Especially after Rufus here told me what you boys found last night."

Reno remembered the order form they'd found at the weapon smith's with Tarran's name on it.

"I've had a thought about that." Reno said still a bit distracted. "You said that the code used sounded similar to the codes used by Shinra right?"

"Yes."

"Is it? A Shinra code I mean."

Rufus obviously hadn't thought about that. "I'll check." He said turning to his computer.

Reno just sat there and stared at the carpet by his feet. Eventually Rankin jolted him out of it. "You dwell on this and you'll be no use to Tseng."

"You'll have to forgive me, but I'd like to dwell on it if you don't mind."

Rankin sighed. "You still don't get it do you?"

"Huh?"

"He's setting Tseng up through you. And he's setting you up through Tarran. See the arrogant piss swilling turd pays Tarran to get nabbed. He then proves the connection between you and Tarran. And it's a give that you're Tseng's boy. He'll do this quietly mind. Hoping that the President will see Tseng unfit to lead and way too ambitious. And let's get this straight, Turks aren't fired. Shinra don't train them up for anyone but Shinra. Fear of them well trained men going to the other side. And if they see someone capable, but don't wanna keep him…" Rankin finished with a vague motion.

"Okay, I get where this is going."

"Remember Reno, there's only three ways outta the Turks. Live to a mature age and retire, prove to them you're no longer useful and no threat, unbalanced would be the word, or, and this seems to be the popular one, die.

Reno's eyes narrowed. "Those were three things someone forgot to mention."

Rankin snorted, "Pull the other one. You knew what you were getting yourself into."

Reno was lost in thought for a few moments. "Wait up, there's one thing I don't get. He doesn't need Tseng for what you said."

"No. But that sure makes things handier if Tseng was off the street. Arkette's always felt a little intimidated around Tseng. Even when he wasn't the complete asshole we all know and hate now. In fact, Tseng not being around might make him, Tseng, more suspicious."

"And what do you mean, pay Tarran to get nabbed. Get nabbed doing what?"

Rankin sighed. "Wish I knew. But it's gotta be big. I came to see Rufus cause I figured Arkette might take another poke at him."

Reno looked back and forth between the two a few times before understanding. "You two know each other."

"Of course we do you thick skulled moron. I was a Turk you know. I helped train the little shit."

"Small world." Reno muttered.

"It's going to take a while for the computer to do a proper search." Rufus interrupted looking up from his computer. "So we should probably take the opportunity to get a few things sorted."

"Such as?"

"Well, our depletion of reliable Turks for one. We had one and a trainee. Now we have a trainee. That needs to be remedied."

Reno visibly winced. "Give me a break."

Rufus gave him a cold smile. "Congratulations Reno. You are hereby elevated to the rank of Turk."

"Yeah congrats." Rankin added grinning.

"Blow me." Reno returned sweetly.

"And because you are Tseng's, the current leader's, ex-trainee, you are appointed as his new partner as well as the dubious honor of being the second in command. That gives you full building clearance and the ability to take orders directly off me, the President and Heidigar as well as your Leader. You also have the ability to requisition equipment and troopers providing you have clearance for the mission you wish to use them on. I'll tell you now, I'm giving you that clearance."

Rankin looked like he was enjoying himself way too much.

Rufus continued. "You'll need to be measured for a new uniform and collect a new security card that has the highest level access. Also," Rufus swiveled the monitor of his computer around and tapped at a blank line on the screen next to the thumbnail picture of Reno taken on his first day of a trainee. Namely, yesterday. "You'll need a last name."

"I'm working on it." Reno snapped sourly.

"Right, well, as soon as you have everything taken care of, I suggest we start planning what we are going to do about Tseng. The Shinra Building might not be good place to be working in right now. I'll take you somewhere where you can get cleaned up. I want you fully instated by the end of the day."

***

It took a while, but eventually Reno realized that staring at it was not going to make it go away. Nor was ignoring it. He'd even spent an extra twenty minutes in the shower, prolonging this moment. He was now proud to say that his hair was more well brushed than it had even been in his life (it was also finally red again), his face had never felt so smooth and he smelt like lavender soap. (Part of his mind was still trying to work out exactly why a man like Rufus kept soap like that.) In all he had taken a record time of one and a half hours cleaning himself up and that navy blue suit was still there waiting for him, hanging underneath a thin plastic sheath, on a hanger on the wardrobe door. And somehow he felt it was just as unhappy about still being there as he was. But just to make sure it didn't want to disappear, Reno settled in to stare at it a little longer.

Rufus looked up from the papers he was carrying as he entered the room and stopped by the door, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Does that help to stare at your clothing before you put it on?"

"Fuck off."

"Touchy." Rufus replied not in the least put off. He had begun to get used to Reno's sharp tongue and refused to be surprised anymore. "We've wasted the entire morning setting your position up, you could at least look the part."

Reno merely growled, his eyes still on the suit.

After a few more moments passed, and Reno still didn't show any signs of moving Rufus just shrugged and continued on with what he had come to say. "I was able to dig up the blueprints for that brothel, but they don't mention anything about any basement levels."

"I'm sure it doesn't." Reno replied. "I'm also pretty sure it's a big waste of time."

"So you've said. But I disagree, and so does Rankin. You're going."

"Well I guess I had to face up to the fact that I'm not my own man anymore." Reno said with a small trace of regret. "Take my orders like a good boy. Die for a cause not my own. Story of my life really."

Rufus stopped and gave the younger man a penetrating look. The last thing he had expected off the new recruit was this. While he didn't feel sorry for Reno, he did feel a little sorry about the situation. "I know what you mean. But nobody forced this on you."

Reno lowered his eyes and sighed. "So everyone tells me."

Rufus' eyes narrowed. "You're not about to get depressed and deep thinking are you?"

"Not likely. This situation sucks enough as it is. I just never imagined I'd end up here. The Turks were the other side you know. I used to try and do everything within my power to screw them over." Reno stopped his explanation upon looking over and seeing Rufus' less than enthusiastic expression. "It's just weird, very stupid and somehow all just got turned around is all."

Rufus surprised him next by smiling slightly. "Welcome to Shinra."

Reno almost smiled back before he stopped himself and quite suddenly grabbed the suit off the hanger. "So what's the plan?"

Sparing an eye for the document in his hand Rufus answered, "What apart from fight your way in and shoot anything that resists?"

"Subtle plan your highness."

"I should tell you at this point, that you'll be in charge of the operation, if there's any plans to be made, you have to make them. I haven't been trained for this."

"That makes two of us." Reno muttered. "You know I could probably get in easier by myself."

"I doubt that."

"Oh? Why does everyone question my skills?"

"I'm not questioning your so called skills Reno. I'm simply stating that you'd be surprised how easy a dozen or so troopers can make a situation."

"A dozen?" Reno asked surprised as he stripped the plastic covering off and started dressing. "No shit. I could probably take the Don's place with a dozen troopers."

"You also have access to the armory so I suggest you make use of it." Seeing Reno's face light up with this, Rufus quickly amended, "Just be sensible alright?"

"Aye Sir, you have my word."

"I still somehow don't feel comforted."

"Bah, that's just common sense. Ignore it and it'll leave you alone."

Rufus pretended to pay no attention to that last statement. "Rankin himself is staying here with me to follow a few things up, but he's offered up some men for the mission. You may have as many as twenty men under your command, so don't screw it up. I expect to see a copy of what you have planned in my hands before five. I want this mission carried out tonight."

"Jeez. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"No." Rufus answered immediately. "But we've little other choice considering."

"Right." Reno buttoned up the last button and reached for the navy blue tie lying across the bed next to him. Putting it around his neck, he tried to recall how Tseng had tied it the other day. It didn't work. He was almost about to ask Rufus how to do it before thinking better of it and pulling on his boots. 

"You look like a beggar, not one of Shinra's elite." Rufus commented as Reno straightened up and snagged the jacket off the bed. 

"Good. Now where's that blueprint." 

*****

If it was unsightly for Reno to have been drooling, he didn't much care. The armory had been massive. Rows upon rows of weapons and ammo, all looked upon by his loving eye, most caressed by his gentle touch. And what was best, he got to take some of it with him. For nothing! Nothing more than the Vice-President's say so, and the room and all it's glorious contents could have been his! 

But despite his perverse cravings, Reno had actually heeded at least a little of Rufus' advice, and not gone overboard. At least not too overboard. Sure he and his troopers (he still couldn't get over the fact that somebody had given him troopers to do his bidding) could quite confidently take on a small army along with a small tank, but he didn't feel he'd overdone it. Quite the contrary. If they did happen to run into a tank, they could handle it. If they ran into two, it might start to get a little tricky. Even with the phone call afterwards to Rufus, who had seemed a little reluctant to think that the brothel might be hiding a tank, Reno wasn't going to let it shoot down his theory. Armed like this, he was quite eager to see that imaginary tank.

As he had pointed out to Rankin and Rufus, there was little need to try and get in quietly. Retaliation of this magnitude was probably expected anyway. Reno even thought it unlikely that any of the 'bad guys' would still be there. Not after leaving a witness alive. And Reno wasn't for one moment deluding himself into thinking Ann wasn't just let go; she was cut loose for a reason. A reason that most likely could only aid Tseng's kidnappers, not detrimentally hindering them by leaving a warm body that could point out all their hidden basement's dirty little secrets. It was a waste of time, but one Rufus had not backed down on. Reno was going to do this and that was that. One concession had been made, if Reno didn't think it was worthwhile trying to sneak in, he could get in any way he chose.

Reno discarded the sneaky, subtle method. Instead he chose the noisy, messy method. A personal favorite.

"How do you want to do this?"

Reno turned his head from studying the building and looked back at the man in the red uniform that had addressed him, absently wiping the wet hair off his forehead.

Of course it was raining as well.

"How else? Through the front door."

The man looked a little troubled at this. "What is the expected resistance?"

The red uniform amongst all the blues told Reno that this guy was a Sergeant or something equally as impressive. It also meant that the guy was Reno's second on this mission. But for the life of him, Reno couldn't remember the guy's name.

"Look, Harold-"

"Bourke, Sir." The man interrupted irritably.

"Bert then." Reno corrected himself distractedly, "It depends entirely on whom you ask. Ask the spawn of Satan you like to call 'boss' and he'll tell you to wear an all-over bulletproof vest, carry shields and watch out for the dozens and dozens of men with semi-autos. Me, I'll tell you what I expect to find; a whole lotta half naked to fully naked women screaming their heads off with no weapons other than pert breasts and a piercing scream." Reno scowled. "They won't even have a tank."

"A tank Sir?"

"Never mind." Reno sighed. "Well, who are you going to believe?"

"You, Sir." The trooper said without a moments thought. Honestly, Reno had expected a bit more of a verbal battle than this.

"Why?" Reno asked mystified.

"Because you're a Turk, Sir." The man replied obviously. "You may be still new and all, but you guys know what it's like out in the field. Those executives, while I ain't got nothing against them personally," He added hurriedly when he mistook Reno's expression for one of disapproval, "they don't know what it's like. You guys are out there, and you're paid for this stuff. You're judgment is good enough for me."

This show of loyalty probably should've softened Reno toward the man, but it only made him pity him. 

"I see. And this theory generally works for you?"

"Generally." The man replied with a smile.

"You're all insane." Reno told him promptly.

"Only to those we follow, Sir."

Reno thought about this for a moment. "Touché."

*

Well, he'd been right about one thing, there sure had been a lot of screaming. Though on reflection, perhaps he shouldn't have had the armored troop carrier driven in through the front door.

The troops dispersed in an orderly fashion amidst the chaos, just how they had been trained and began rounding up all people in sight. Most of them women. Most of them screaming their heads off. While four men did this, he motioned to the remaining eight to follow him. According to the information Ann had given Rankin, there was a staff only door halfway down a secure corridor on the first floor in the left wing. Finding it was easy enough and as he descended, Reno had to admit to himself that he was having a bit of fun. Of course if he forgot that Tseng was missing and Tarran was also gone, presumed turned coat. But they had given the teenager power, they had given him a small force of troopers and what was more, they had given him some serious weaponry. Reno vowed that even if they didn't find what they were after down here, he was going to reduce the whole building to a smoking hole in the ground regardless. He could always tell his new superiors that he had meant the stunt as a deterrent. Shinra were into that right? And he would not, under any circumstances let on how much he had enjoyed doing it. Too many people had pissed him off by this point, and he just wanted to break something. Wasn't his fault some people were stupid enough bastards to give him the means to break lots and lots of stuff in a big fiery explosion.

Down he went with his troopers, gun out, looking professional despite probably not being able to hit the wide side of a barn at twenty paces, and finding absolutely and utterly…nothing. Just as he had suspected, they had packed up and moved on. Searching room by room would take them hours, but Reno had noticed that some papers were left on desks and workbenches here and there and he couldn't ignore the potential evidence unlikely as it was to be of much use. Keeping his gun out he continued on the room-to-room sweep till eventually he got sick of the sharp beep his left jacket pocket was making. Coming to a stop in a bare cement corridor, Reno waved his men on and hauled the offensive device out of his pocket and stared at it. 

It beeped again. 

It wasn't ringing, he was pretty sure. But the beep didn't seem to be telling him anything other than the PHS might be out of battery. Shaking it and knocking it against the wall behind him didn't seem to help either.

"Someone's trying to call you." Bourke explained as he and the others finished in one room and were moving onto the next.

"They why doesn't the stupid piece of shit ring?"

"Interference I'll wager. We're virtually underground here. You'll have to go back up to pick up reception."

Reno stared at his bossy PHS. "No wonder I used to beat the shit out of people who carried these."

"Sir?" Was the confused reply.

"Look, I'm going up to take this call. Finish up with the sweep, then begin collecting anything that looks interesting and bring it to me."

"Yes Sir!" Was the dutiful reply punctuated with a neat salute.

Too exasperated by kept being called 'Sir' so many times by now, Reno didn't even bother with a cutting remark.

Making his way back up into the main room he found that his PHS still continued to beep. So of course he shook it some more. "Expensively fined tuned piece of necessary equipment my ass. Ring damn you!"

As if on command, that's exactly what it did.

"Reno." He answered.

The reply he got was hard to decipher. Crackly interference was the only thing he could hear along with the faint sounds of a voice. Clamping the phone between his head and shoulder Reno gestured to the four troopers, "Start getting those people out of the building would you? I'll question a few of them later."

He heard a round of 'Yes, Sir's before leaving the building himself and stepping out onto the road. Finally he began to hear the other voice clearly.

"Oi, Reno!"

"Quit your yelling Rankin, I can hear you."

"'Bout freakin' time. What held you up?"

"Interference in the building or something. What did you want me for?"

The troopers began leading the brothel workers out onto the sidewalk along with a few aggravated looking businessmen who were making good their chance to escape notice and vanish. Reno watched it all with a disinterested eye.

"Rufus' computer finally turned up a match. Clever boy Reno, you picked it straight up. The code is Shinra all right."

"No shit?" Reno asked mildly surprised. Somehow he hadn't envisioned it'd be that easy. "What is it?"

"This is the shitty part. The code is for a mako-powered bomb. More like a cluster of bombs. Three all in the one unit. But I reckon they can be taken apart if that's the want. They're only mako powered not mako bombs themselves, but they're still pretty powerful, even individually. I rang you now 'cause I didn't want you to find the thing and tinker with it. Knowin' you we all would've been pickin' bits of charred whorehouse outta our hair for months."

"Don't sugarcoat it Rankin, tell me what you really think." Reno replied sarcastically. Then a sudden thought occurred to him. "Wait? Mako powered bombs, aren't they supposed to disrupt electrical equipment?"

"Sure. But how did-"

Rankin didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say. Reno had dropped his phone and was pelting back toward the building, sprinting as fast as he could. He made it almost to the front door when the world blew up in his face and he felt the searing heat.

*

Rankin stared at the phone for a few moments in baffled astonishment. 

"What's wrong?" Rufus asked from across his office, sitting before his computer.

"I think-" But then they heard it too. Even from where they were they heard the muffled thunder of the largish building go up. 

Rufus' head snapped toward his window just in time to see a small burst of flame leap up into the sky before dwindling just as quickly.

"We better call the paramedics." Rankin finished.

*************

_Notes: I know, this took far longer than you've had to wait for any chapter to come out before. I know I deserve an ass kicking. But would it help if I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to wrap things up by the 20th chapter as previously thought and there might be a 21st? Thought that might ease the pain some. And damnit, it's tough trying to wrap everything together when you're posting it chapter by chapter. I still only have a vague idea what's going to happen in the end as it is. Exciting though isn't it?_

_And yes Race, Tarran will be in the next chapter never fear. More Rufus too for the Rufie groupies. I'm not making fun, *sniff* I'm one of them too! As if you already couldn't tell ;). _

_Well things are getting tight now that I've crispied things up a little. You might have noticed that I kinda like explosions huh? They're just so loud and fiery. (Though immensely un PC for this day and age (insert insensitivity apology here).)_

_Well you'll just have to keep reading,_

_AF_

_Btw, review. A lot. I want 100 reviews plus for this fic on FF.NET damnit! Don't deny the fic its reward! Or me for that matter teehee_

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

__

_home of the up and coming Shinra Chronicles!_


	20. Sore Loser

I Must Be Insane.

By AF Chapter 20 

_By AF & Ace._

Sore Loser.

          Reno wasn't sure what had happened, but he was fairly sure that he should, by all rights, be dead. The image in the mirror informed him different.

          He watched carefully, tilting his head from side to side in search of any marks that might indicate what he had gone through. And while he had a few pale streaks here and there, reminiscent of very old burns, there was no charred skin, no deep gashes and perhaps more importantly, he felt fine. A little groggy and sore sure, but fine enough for a man who had had a building blow up in his face.

          Reno stared hard into a pair of softly glowing blue eyes. "You should be dead."

          "Ha! I've been telling you that for years, Reno. Didn't I ever tell you that if the city blew up tomorrow I reckon the only surviving things would be cockroaches, the fungus under Tarran's bed and you."

          Reno didn't bother turning around. "Only about a hundred times."

          Rankin entered the room properly and came over to clap Reno a might too heartily on the back. Reno almost ended up head butting the glass. "Right I was too you lucky son of a bitch! 'Spose it can't have hurt you being infused either, but I guess that's all part of your luck."

          Reno ignored the man for a moment and ran a hand over his face, still peering at his own reflection. Whatever had been the cause for saving him, that had been by far the closest thing he thought he'd come to being wiped out. Probably because it was the only time when he had little to no control over the situation. In the past it had generally been as a direct result from his actions or words that had gotten him into trouble. This time it had been way too sudden and it left him feeling impotent.

          "How many?"

          "At least nine of your troopers. Another five of mine that were scoping out the operation. A bloody mess, I'll tell you." 

          "Would it be inappropriate for me to tell you, I told you so?"

          Rankin frowned at him. "Also bad for you physical well being."

          Reno pushed himself away from the mirror and moved stiffly across the room. "Funly enough your threats aren't scaring me today. I'm feeling more than a little invincible."

          "How can someone feel a little invincible?" Rankin asked wryly.

          "I'm alive." Reno winced. "But I hurt."

          Rankin rolled his eyes as he picked a shirt up off the side table and threw it at his ex-employee. "See if I give a flyin' turd, Reno. Get dressed, you got work to do."

          "Wait!" Reno stopped Rankin retreating before the other man could get halfway to the door. "Why am I alive? Really, and what's it got to do with being infused?"

          Rankin gave Reno a condescending smile. "You've been a little busy of late and probly haven't taken the time to notice, so I'll spare you the sarcasm. But haven't you noticed anything different?"

          "Different?" Reno asked mystified. "Like what?"

          Rankin sighed and scratched his head. "Like doing anything easily that you might've had to try harder at before you bloody fool!"

          Reno thought for a moment. "Not really."

          Rankin shook his head and began to walk away once more. "Think on it then. Then think about the little materia could've done for you when a building blows up in your face and why you're still alive. /Then/ report to Rufus. He'll be waitin' for ya."

          Reno did think about it while he was getting dressed. Tseng had always been kind of sketchy when it came to the topic of his, Reno's, infusion. He sure as hell hadn't added the little bit about being immune to explosions…

          Reno rubbed his side. Alright, maybe 'immune' was stretching it a little. But still…if not dead, he ought to be in a lot more pain than he was. And what did Rankin mean about being able to do things that he might not have been able to do before. Like what? Since the infusion he hadn't really been out doing much heavy work. But for some reason, a few things did filter into his confused mind. Like the interrogation with that Derik guy. Reno had practically flung him into the tiled walls. Reno wasn't a big guy, but he hadn't given it much thought really 'cause neither was Derik and he had been pretty angry at the time. But now that he thought back on it, he shouldn't probably have been able to jerk him around like that so easily, not to mention with so much force as he had used. Not with a guy around the same size and probably a little heavier. Reno just wasn't that strong normally. 

Reno grabbed the front of Derik's shirt and pulled the startled man to his feet. Using the momentum he spun the man and around and straight into the wall behind him. Startled as the man was, he had no time to prepare for the impact and hit the wall full force with a sickening smack. Reno let go of his collar and let him drop flat onto his back.

But that was just anger, wasn't it?

          _Giving himself the most running room he could find, he took one deep breath, started sprinting and launched himself over the edge. It was at this point that he reminded himself that these sorts of stunts occurred much more easily and a lot less painfully when he played the scenario out in his mind. And that this particular jump was going to hurt. And he was right. He chest impacted with one of the landing struts forcing a wave of pain out through his entire chest. He almost forgot to wrap his arms around the strut in time to stop him falling. Once he had his arms around it securing though, he let himself dangle for a while and recover some of his wits. By the time he had, the chopper was hovering out well over the edge of the building giving him a rather dizzy view of the plaza far below. Hooking one leg over the strut he managed to pull himself up into a sort of sitting position and slide open the side door. Hauling himself inside, Reno slid the door shut behind him and slumped onto the uncomfortable metal floor, breathing hard and wondering if he had really just done that._

/That/ wasn't anger. /That/ was plain utter stupidity. But he had made the jump hadn't he? He pretty much knew he would and he had. 

          But that was nothing to say that either of those things weren't things he couldn't have done before the infusion. Infused or not, Reno regularly took risks like that and generally they panned out didn't they? Materia could've healed his light wounds and he hadn't been as close to the building as initially thought, maybe that was just it. He was just lucky as per usual. 

          Right?

          Reno shrugged and sighed, "I'm not complaining either way that's for fuckin' sure."

          But he was sorely tempted to test this new theory, that's for certain.

*

          "There's a round of apologies coming my way. At least two from every individual in the room."

          Neither Rankin nor Rufus looked the slightest bit impressed. Reno didn't get his apologies. Instead he took a seat opposite Rankin as before asking the older man, "Do you live in Rufus' office now or what?"

          "I'm staying in a place of mine on the Plate for the time bein'. Count it as your lucky day. I got more to do helpin' out here than back at the House."

          "Pft. Tell the truth, you two've been here since yesterday tryna come up with a new strategy while I been laying down in that creepy-ass medical lab, haven't you?" Reno hardly paused before continuing. "Well, I'm telling you now, you wasted your time. I've decided that both of you guys' plans suck. I'll handle this myself."

          "Brave words numbskull. I've seen your plans Reno, they lack some needed subtlety." Rankin replied scowling.

          Rufus was still trying to get over the candid speech of Reno's and couldn't offer up a retort.

          "And do you really think subtlety is our biggest hassle right now? Unless both of you have been living in a ditch lately, you might both like to know that we're losing here. It's no time to worry about subtleties. I've gone along with it for this long, but you guys have to start facing facts."

          "We're well aware of the facts, Reno." Rufus came in, recovering. "But we can't just go up to Arkette and call him a liar. It's more complex than that."

          "Exactly!" Reno beamed, happy that Rufus seemed to have hit on a major point in his argument. Rufus himself, didn't look so sure he understood.

          "Alright," Rankin conceded. "You've got my attention. What's your plan?"

          "I've been thinking about this a lot. Rufus is right, this is a complex situation. But we can work with that. And I'm sick of all this cloak and dagger stuff. Look at us, we're afraid. That's not right. We're all afraid of the big bad, evil man." Reno told them in a mocking voice. "And that's about to change. Look at our situation. He's killed Dallen, captured Tseng and already tried to kill both me and Rufus. We're afraid that any one of us could be next and fear is a great weapon to use against a foe. It's making us resort to secrecy, tentative plotting and a hell of a lot of sitting and waiting. And lemme tell you something, Arkette is sure as shit not afraid of any one of us. You wanna know why? 'Cause so far, we haven't done anything that ranks up there with what he's done and he probably figures that we're not ever going to. Yeah well, I say fuck that, it's about time we evened up the score and give him a little something to be afraid of for a change. He's taken three of ours away from us and still has all his troops accounted for. I intend to change that."

          It took a while, but eventually understanding dawned on both the other men's faces. Rankin smiled, but Rufus shook his head adamantly. "No. You can't do that."

          "Why not?" Reno challenged. "Because we aren't the evil ones? Because we're supposed to be some sort of good guys? Wake up your majesty, we aren't any sort of good guys, we're Shinra, remember. Arkette just happens to be the opposition. Why the hell can't we stoop down to his level huh?"

          "Good question." Rankin commented.

          Rufus didn't have a response to that apart from a reluctant, "I'm not giving you permission."

          Reno nodded obligingly. "This conversation never even happened."

***

          Tseng groaned and rolled over, hoping to be able to get comfortable again. But when he rolled over he realized what a stupid idea that had been. In all probability, he hadn't even been that comfortable to begin with. He was laying on bare concrete. Surprisingly, he wasn't that astonished by the development. What not?

          When full realization came back to him he sat bolt upright, his eyes snapping open and scanned the room around him. The unfortunate person that had been crouched next to him looking him over, startled by the sudden movement, went back to land heavily on their ass. Tseng, naturally, upon seeing who it was, went for the guy's throat.

          Tarran was perhaps a might quicker than the Turk would have given him credit for and managed to scramble out of the way before Tseng could get a hand around his neck. Jumping to his feet though, Tseng knew the young man wouldn't be able to dodge a second attack. He lunged forward but was stopped forcefully mid-way toward the Rebel and jerked roughly backward and off is feet. He ended up in a similar position to Tarran, but with a very dissimilar look on his face. In his initial awakening and rush he had neglected to even notice the metal cuff around his left ankle that secured him via a medium stretch of chain to a link cemented to the back wall. So Tseng had to settle with sitting there and glaring at the young man for all he was worth. 

          Attempting to regain some of his lost calm Tarran rearranged himself into a kneeling position and rubbed the dust off the seat of his pants. "I think I may have to change my pants after that. I thought you would have been out for longer than this. Damn you Turks move fast."

          Tseng had felt a little fuzzy when he woke up, but that could've accounted for anything. Now he understood that they must have fed something to him to keep him unconscious. It didn't make him any happier.

          "Unlock me and I will give you a real show." Tseng promised darkly.

          Tarran tried a weak smile. "Uh, considering the way you're looking at me, I'll take a rain check on that. Do you know where you are?"

          "Does it matter?"

          "I guess not." Tarran admitted after a few seconds of thought. "But I only have a few spare minutes to talk to you so we better make them count. They'll know I'm missing before too long."

          Tseng frowned. "Why?"

          Tarran moved as close to Tseng as he dared and whispered. "I need to get a message to Reno. How can I?"

          Tseng crossed his legs, knowing that taking another shot at Tarran was out of the question and inspected the brace around his ankle. "You think I'd tell you?"

          "Yes." Tarran replied frankly.

          The response took Tseng a little off guard. "What?"

          "Why wouldn't you?" Tarran continued. "I /am/ trying to help you know."

          "Uh," Tseng replied.

          "You know for a Turk, you're not very bright." Tarran informed him. "Didn't Reno tell you I could be trusted?"

          "Not really. And your capturing Ann and I didn't seem like 'helping' at the time." Tseng spat back sarcastically. "You may be able to see where my lack of trust stems from."

          "You really think I had much choice? And here I thought nobody ever used the 'if you aren't on my side, I'll kill you' routine anymore. It's so old. But here I am. And besides I'm part of the inner circle now, can you think of a better place to be to undermine the psychotic asshole?"

          "But, you were tortured, you have to have been. You said you were 'bettering yourself'."

          "Yeah, and Reno tells everyone he's twenty six, owns a convertible and can dance better than anyone in Midgar. Just because he says it's true doesn't mean it is, lemme assure you on that fact." Tarran settled back on his heels and regarded Tseng thoughtfully. "You guys really don't have a clue about what's about to happen do you?"

          "I have the impression you're about to inform me."

          Tarran rolled his eyes. "Take a look at the ungrateful Turk huh? You /do/ realize how much danger I'm in even talking to you right? The guards think I just came in here to see if you were awake for interrogation. I have half a mind to leave you in here for Arkette."

          Tseng sighed wearily, his earlier aggression being dampened by a whole slew of other emotions he didn't have the stomach to articulate right now. "Do it then. I'm not likely to start trusting you just because you came in here and told me I could. You want to send a message to Reno, good luck I'm not going to help you. And I sincerely hope he thinks twice before blundering to the rescue because for all I know, he could be heading toward his own grisly death."

          "Jeez, I knew Turks had issues, but this is absurd. Fine then, look at it this way. How stupid do you think I am? D'you /really/ think after this is all over I'm going to be happy and alive to revel in my new found badness? Give me a break. Arkette is using me so's he won't get his /real/ workers into trouble. I'm the one whose supposed to trigger the bomb right. Then he'll swing into the rescue and nab the culprit before letting me go with a little slap before recruiting me for his new army of Turks?" Tarran snorted. "Please. I've heard better lies off meat-head terrorists."

          "Bomb?" Tseng couldn't help but ask.

          Tarran grinned. "Ah, so /now/ he wants to know all the little details. I thought you didn't trust me?"

          "I thought you wanted me to trust you. Besides, any information is good, no matter how unreliable."

          Tarran eyed Tseng for a few moments before ultimately shrugging and making himself more comfortable on the floor. "Good enough I 'spose.

          "Right, well, you know about the opening of the last part of the Midgar 1 roadway right? Two days from now?"

          Tseng nodded but could barely hide a wince. He'd known all right, but with everything going on he hadn't given the event much thought. Just another job in between so many others. He hadn't even had the time to brief Reno on the mission.

          "Weeeell, apparently the opening is going to attract a fair amount of interesting dignitaries from around the city, cause of how the whole thing is staged. The advancement of Midgar the greatest city in the world, or some such garbage. It's just a big publicity stunt really, but it'll be enough to attract some damage. Namely on the Vice-President."

          Tarran paused for effect while Tseng grappled with this new information. "What about the President?"

          "Not going apparently. Big as it may be, still a little beneath his notice. It's mainly for the Urban Development department than the might of Shinra. But he's sending his son alright. Besides, Arkette doesn't wanna kill the President. That'll go against his goals. He wants to be important within Shinra and that'd be a little difficult if there wasn't a Shinra anymore. But killing off Rufus Shinra is perfect. Gets rid of someone he no longer trusts and an opponent for more power. After all, whose gonna be heir to the company if Rufie kicks the bucket?"

          Tseng could barely believe what he was hearing. "Are you trying to tell me that Arkette wants to take Rufus' place? That's impossible."

          "Is it? The President isn't exactly a sprite guy anymore. He hasn't got time to be waitin' for another son to grow up, even if he were likely to have another one at his age. Nah, he'll end up havin' to choose someone from the company."

          "Probably Heidigar or Hojo or someone. One of the executives."

          "Doesn't look that way. Too old most of 'em. No younger than the President himself other than one or two. And that can be taken care of in time. Remember this is a future goal of his, not his immediate one. For now, he'd be quite happy to kill off all his opposers and install himself in the Leader position. Eventually he'll even swell the ranks of the Turks to rival Solider so he says. His own private army of elite. I'll tell you, it gave me goose bumps when he told me about that. I can't imagine what Midgar'd turn into. 

          "Nah, for now, he wants you disgraced and dead and Rufus and Reno just plainly dead."

          "How?" Tseng found himself asking quietly. 

          "Well, he's got his hands on a couple of mako powered bombs. Nasty stuff. I saw one go off the other night. Lit up the sky all over the sector. Anyway, Arkette plans to plant one underneath the podium where Rufus is due to make his speech. He'll figure on Reno not being too far off being the guy's bodyguard for the proceedings. Even if he isn't Arkette had a backup for that. Anyway, while he's down there himself standing just out of range, being seen doing his job, I'm 'sposed to set the trigger off from nearby. He says he needs me to do this to, 'test my resolve'. Yeah well, no shit. He'll plant you up there with me so when Arkette comes swinging into the rescue with as many witnesses as he can muster it'll look pretty bad for both of us. The plan is 'sposed to be that he kills you for resisting, nabs me and blames the whole episode on you. Later he'll release me saying I was coerced and recruit me. Well so he says. Somehow I doubt he's really going to let me off. I reckon I'm just as likely to catch a bullet in between the eyes as you. At least after I've implicated Reno into the bargain. It isn't necessarily that he doesn't fully trust me, though I doubt he does, but I think he's more worried about me blabbing than not. Loose ends and all that. I think he's only using me 'cause I'm not originally one of his and even me being dead can point an accusing finger at a lot of people. Reno and Rankin mainly. And Rankin has a lot of people under his protection. Arkette's got a pretty thin view of rebel companies I guess."

          "Just Rankin's." Tseng replied without thinking.

          "Why? 'Cause we're one of the best?"

          "Something like that." Tseng replied carefully.

          "So you believe me?" Tarran asked hopefully. "I need to get this information to Reno. You're gonna help right?"

          Tseng looked at the other man's hopeful expression for a while before replying. "Wrong."

***

All in all Reno was feeling pretty good about his newfound powers. He was at least twice as strong as he had been, less bothered by pain and almost three times as energetic. He felt sixteen again and the biggest, toughest bad ass in Midgar. And considering his activities throughout most of the night, he probably figured that sixteen year old bravado wasn't that far wrong. Normal people just didn't stand a chance. 

He felt, as he had told Rankin earlier, more than a little invincible. 

He had spent most of his afternoon and evening testing himself. Basically running around the city, jumping, climbing, running and generally looking like and insane freak as he laughed and grinned through it all. But that was over. Now he had work to do.

Just for the hell of it, he began running up the pavement. True his endurance for running hadn't improved all that much, but he was much faster now in an all out sprint. Seeing a pole spanning the section between two buildings set into the brick about ten feet off the ground, he used his momentum and the brick wall beside him as a boost and jumped, grabbing hold of the bar. Pulling himself up, he hooked his legs over it and shimmied over to the left hand building and a window ledge he could use to get across to a pipe that ran up to the roof of the building. As he walked across the narrow ledge he couldn't help but whistle. He always whistled in situations like this. 

***

          The Turk stopped by the familiar brick building and looked around him. Nobody was watching him, nobody in fact appeared to even be around at this time. Not surprising really for this time of night, especially for this type of area. Still, he wasn't about to take chances, not now.

          Confident that he was unobserved, he tapped on the door a few times and waited patiently for it to be answered. It was, a few seconds later as a panel about eye height slid open to reveal a pair of distrustful eyes. The eyes regarded him briefly for a second or two before the panel slid shut and the sound of several bolts being moved could be heard. The door opened and he entered.

          Gafford walked through the familiar building noting the usual sounds and movement but taking no real interest in those around him. His real objective lay behind a door on the second floor of the building. Reaching the well used and very old wooden stairway, he climbed to an accompaniment of a few creaks and groans and proceeded down the hall to the first door on the right. Here he knocked. The door opened with the first touch of his knuckles, swinging open. With an odd frown, Gafford shrugged and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

          The room was lit with a single lamp over by the door he had entered through. The other end of the room was still cloaked in shadows, but he could see that he wasn't alone when the end of a burning cigarette flared as his host took a puff.  He must've been sitting against the back wall having a fine view of his guest without his guest being able to see him entirely. Subconsciously it made Gafford a little wary, but he had no real reason to worry. This place was as familiar to him as his own apartment and the world was forever filled with people who didn't have the proper respect for those who were obviously their betters. Warwen had always been one such man unfortunately. But even this was a little much for Warwen.

          "At least when you lurk in shadows I don't haveta look at yer face Warwen." Gafford muttered feeling justified in showing his annoyance to this insignificant man.

          To his increasing surprise, Gafford heard a soft snicker at the comment but no retort.

          Puzzled, he asked simply. "Where's my stuff. I don't wanta spend more precious time than necessary in this rat's nest."

          There was a scrape of movement before something was thrown across the floor toward him. A rather sizable clear plastic wrapped parcel, heavy as it skidded to a stop by Gafford's left foot. Gafford looked at it and scowled. "D'you think I'm made of money? I asked for a lot less than this."

          When a voice finally did answer him, it was enough to make his blood turn to ice. His reaction surprised him more than the voice. In fact that he was barely able to do more than gape at the dark shadow across the room and the red glowing eye that gave the shadow's position away.

          "I find that you always end up with more than you bargained for when you mess with the wrong shit."

***

Arkette's jaw was clenched tightly as they hauled the limp body out of the dumpster and laid it none too gently on the sidewalk underneath the vague glow of the street lamp. The body's navy blue suit was torn and bloody and generally covered in various bits of garbage from the dumpster.

The Shinra medic that was crouched on the ground beside the body checking it before they would load it up into the non-descript and depressing looking black van. After studying the bloody for a few moments, the medic looked up, scanning the side of the building the dumpster rested up against.

"What is it?" Arkette asked deadpan.

"Odd." The medic replied. "Is there a window above this dumpster can you see?"

"Yes, on the next story. Why?"

"I think he might have been tossed out of the window. Any idea who owns that building?"

Arkette had a pretty good idea after having to drag his partner out of it barely conscious more times that he could count. "Not particularly. A cleaners a think."

"Well you might like to question them."

"I'll do that." Arkette lied.

A few members of the MPD milled about the scene. Arkette was still wondering how they came to know about this so fast. It had been them that had called him once the body had been identified. They had apparently gotten a anonymous call just after the murder. But he couldn't understand why.

"Oh, what have we here…" The medic had been moving Gafford's jacket when something had apparently fallen out onto the pavement below and spilled. Arkette and a few blue suited police moved in for a closer look.

It looked like white powder. A lot of white powder.

One of the cops whistled. "That's a whole lotta stuff for one guy." The cop looked at Arkette. "Shinra don't do drug busts." It wasn't a question and therefore Arkette couldn't give an answer. They would know whatever he'd say would be a lie anyway. At least he knew now why the MPD was here. Someone had wanted witnesses to this. People who wouldn't cover up the fact that a Turk was found with a rather substantial amount of drugs in his jacked, dead in a dumpster, next to a known drug house. And if the MPD knew, half the newspapers in the city would know by tomorrow morning.

Arkette closed his eyes to shut out the red spots dancing over his eyes. He couldn't believe this was happening. What was this, retaliation? Surely Gafford hadn't fallen to some drug dealer.

"I think you better leave your partner with us." The cop told him less than politely. "And you're gonna wanna hope that all that stuff he's carrying was for personal use. You better make yourself available for questioning."

Arkette generally ignored the cop and nodded, staring at the body of his unfortunate partner. 

Of course Gafford hadn't fallen to a drug dealer. He may've been on heavy drugs for eighty per cent of his waking hours, despite his partner's objections, but he was still a Turk. Turk's just weren't that easy to kill. Unless of course you were killed by another Turk…

Arkette swallowed a growl and turned away from the scene, stalking away from the body and the scene of chaos behind him. 

"You've got balls boy," He growled to himself, "but now you've made me really angry."

***

"Reno, why has your PHS been switched off?"

"Been busy."

"I really don't want to know."

"Good move, chief."

"Anyway. The reason I'm calling. Heidigar has been looking for you. You needed to present yourself to him this afternoon remember."

"Oh, right. Knew I forgot something."

"Accidentally, I'm sure. But you need to do it. He'll probably want to hear the regime for the M1 opening on Thursday. You should've gotten that information to him before this. Not a big deal, just one of those posturing moments but we need to look like we know what we're doing. You disappeared on me earlier before I could remind you."

"Oh yeah, right you are…" there was a distinct pause, "Hang on. M1 opening? When did this happen?"

******

_Notes: Well well, told you there would be a 21st chapter. Hopefully I can get it done without having to add a 22nd huh? _

_Neway, for those of you wondering, no, I didn't just add the opening spur of the moment. I had something like that planned but earlier on. Besides, I couldn't give /everything/ away to Reno yet right? Not until of course you already knew what was going on yourselves. Gives it a better feel. But damn, in some tough shit now, how ever will the escape this? And is Tarran /really/ on the side of good, or just following through on his master's insidious plots? Find out more in the next chapter which will hopefully be the stunning conclusion to the way too long fic 'I Must Be Insane'_

_Cause really, I must be_

_AF_

_Btw, I'll be taking a short break in between this one and the next in the Shinra Chronicles series to get the next episode of ADKOS up and posted. But be sure to check back here for a preview of the next fic in the series and a taste for what is to come. The next one will pretty much take off where this one and is mainly about Rude becoming a Turk plus a few new Shinra people to be added to the roster. Hey, the people bitched and I conceded. And I simply can't say no to some requests._

_anime_fearie@excite.com_

_And many many thanx to Ace for helping with this chapter. It was very sorely needed and I know you don't have heaps of time to spare. If you want to get in contact with her you can mail her at;_

_acelynd@excite.com_

_All stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

__

_for people of great taste and amazing endurance…_


	21. Bombs Away

I Must Be Insane By AF Chapter 21 

**_By AF & Ace._**

Bombs Away 

          Reno sat at his new desk within the Turk's offices, feet propped up, thumbing through the papers he had regarding the M1 opening. 

It was his desk now. Traditionally Turks shared desks. There was ever only two in this part of the office and usually double that amount of Turks meant to be working there. An inner office housed the desk of the Leader. To be honest, this was the first time Reno had been here as a Turk. Usually he'd been told to stay away in case Gafford and Arkette didn't have a mission running. They had apparently shared the desk across the room from the one Reno currently sat at. He'd already gone through it. Unfortunately he hadn't found any plans to take over the world readily available in one of the drawers. Pity. All he had found were plans for a couple of upcoming jobs, pencils, files, staplers, a few little baggies of various drugs (most likely Gafford's) and a few rounds of ammo. Basic office stuff as far as Reno was concerned. He'd pocketed the last two items as well as a couple of tickets Arkette had for a hockey game and returned to his own desk before the dour Turk arrived for work. He'd stashed the stuff in a drawer where he had stored all of the other things he'd 'accidentally' nicked from around the Shinra Building when he'd begun work here. He felt better now he had somewhere to put all that junk, lighter too. Dallen's stuff hadn't been cleaned out yet and neither had the bulk of Tseng's. Apparently, the two had shared this desk before both of them had moved onto higher planes of existence. Tseng moving to his own office, Dallen…well wherever it was, it had to be better than here. He hadn't bothered cleaning it out himself yet, even though the desk was his now. His stuff only took up one drawer and Tseng and Dallen hadn't seemed to be people to keep a lot of unnecessary junk around the office. So Reno had just moved it all to one of the other drawers and dumped his own junk in the new cleared out space before making himself at home.

          Which is how Arkette found him, stalking into the office and glaring around at everything. Reno watched him casually over the top of a paper in his hand with seemingly unconcerned eyes. Arkette glared at him too. Reno smiled.

          "Good morning. Gee, it's getting a little vacant around here ain't it? Heard about your partner, that's a bitch huh?"

          Arkette shot a dark glance at Reno. "Yeah. A bitch."

          Reno tried to make himself look as innocent as possible as he took his feet off the desk and leaned over it in an attempt to appear secretive. "Is it true that they found a whole heap of drugs on him?"

          "Yes," Arkette replied steadily.

          "Shit hey," Reno replied sitting back, "Would never have guessed."

          Arkette was doing a commendable job of keeping himself under control considering the circumstances. Reno could almost tell what he was thinking about. Trying to decide whether he ought to just drop the charade, accuse Reno then shoot him. Or just to play along. Difficult choice considering the circumstances. Oh, Reno knew Arkette would have no problem accusing his fellow Turk or shooting him for that matter, of course he knew Reno knew about his own Turk killing tendencies. But he had to know something was up. If he suspected a trap, he wouldn't say anything. And the Shinra Building wasn't quite his home turf anymore. At least not as far as Reno and Rufus were concerned. It still bit that Rufus couldn't tell his father what was going on without proof. They could have had this whole episode over within the first day after Dallen's murder. Bureaucracy, Reno supposed. Either way, it still gave him the shits. He half wanted Arkette to draw his weapon; it'd give Reno an excuse to do something drastic in return. But Arkette was too wary to give himself over to revenge and anger. Reno felt a pang of regret at that, he really felt like doing something drastic.

          "Do you have your orders for the Opening?" Arkette asked instead.

          Considering his partner had just been killed, he was handling himself quite well. 

          "Heidigar hasn't given me any orders regarding our details. Just wanted the site checked and gone over." 

          Whatever he'd meant by that. Reno hadn't had any training regarding this part of the Turk job before. Paper work had never been his specialty. But he supposed it meant that they wanted the site of the Opening gone over in terms of possible safety issues. Reno could do that. He'd been doing it at Rankin's for some time. Actually, Rankin said he'd had such an eye for problems like this that he often ran things past him that had nothing to do with what Reno was currently involved in. Just to make sure Rankin hadn't missed anything. He rarely did, but Reno got paid extra for his time. There had been about four guys like that at the House. Reno had been one of the better ones.

          "Tseng's still MIA so I'm supposed to be handing out the body guarding details," Reno finished.

          Arkette looked momentarily surprised at this. "You?"

          "Yeah me. Something Rufus said about me being Tseng's partner or something." Reno grinned. "Guess it makes me in charge."

          Arkette didn't manage to duplicate the grin, but he bared his teeth in what he must have thought passed for a smile. "And?"

          "And I've decided to give you crowd detail."

          Arkette quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

          "Sure am. I'll stick by Rufus don't worry."

          This time Arkette smile was a little more genuine. "Oh, I'm not worried." He turned to leave. "I have things to do. I'll see you later."

          With that Arkette left Reno after only being in the office for a scant five minutes, the temporary leader vaguely frowning at his fellow Turk's enthusiasm. Until of course he was sure Arkette had left. Then he leant back in his chair, replaced his feet on the desk and smiled to himself.

          "Till then."

****

          Tseng was vaguely aware of some commotion outside his cell, but he refused to pay any attention to it. Instead he kept his place on the floor, stretched out on his back, hands folded neatly behind his head, eyes closed and pretended that he didn't care. He'd find out sooner or later anyway, he was fairly certain. He was proved right not two minutes later when he heard the jangle of keys outside his door and the sound of someone fiddling with the lock. 

          Still, Tseng refused to show interest. He watched the ceiling above his head with a carefully arranged look of utter disinterest while his cell door was roughly pulled open and the footsteps of a couple of heavily booted men filed in and spread out around him. A man's grinning head interposed itself between Tseng and his vision of the roof. The smile was cold but amused seeming all the same.

          "Time to get up and go to work, Turk."

          When Tseng moved suddenly to lift himself up to lean on his elbows he had the satisfaction of seeing a few of the gathered men flinch. He was more than proud in this moment that his reputation would scare even those who'd kidnapped him. It might work for him when the time came. For now Tseng didn't move any further than he had.

          "I told you to get up," The first man told him, his grin disappearing at the sight of Tseng's apparent insolence. 

          Tseng swiveled his eyes around the room slowly. Six men all armed in one way or another except for one standing with a wry look on his face over by the door. Tarran. He raised an eyebrow at the Turk when his gazed passed over him as if to say; "Well, what do you think?"

          Tseng ignored him till his eyes came back to rest on the man who had addressed him. A flash of familiarity there and he tried to remember where he might know this man from. Then it came to him, Brydon. He had thought the man was dead. He shook his head ruefully; Reno had been on the right track with his little list after all.

          "Turk," The man began almost angrily at the calm silence.

          "If you want me to move, I might suggest removing the chain from my ankle first. Otherwise I wouldn't end up going far." Tseng interrupted calmly.

          Tarran had to bite his lip to cover a smile.

          "Think we're that stupid?" Brydon challenged. "You can stand, and we're not unlocking that leg cuff till we have your hands bound. Got that?"

          Tseng was surprised. There were six men surrounding him in a place that could have been a basement in any building or house in Midgar. They were armed, he was not and here they were, afraid to have him out of restraints for more than two seconds. Inwardly he smiled to himself. He thought his chances of escape were pretty even once he got that leg cuff off, but he was still surprised that they thought that too. So much for being proud of your reputation.

          Diligently, Tseng stood. Slowly so he wouldn't startle them again and held out his wrists for cuffing. Obviously this show of compliance was testing for their nerves. Only Tarran and Brydon didn't seem afraid and Tseng had to wonder at that. They were probably the only two who were aware just how dangerous the Turk's leader could be. At last a man who was only shaking a small amount came over to him to snap a shiny steel cuff around each wrist. When he as done, he stepped back, crouched down and picked up a different set of restraints for Tseng's feet. A sent of ankle cuffs, attached together by a chain. Tseng rolled his eyes, why didn't they just drug him again?

          While the man with the cuffs, dragged himself closer to put them on him, Tseng studied Tarran and Brydon. Brydon looked a little on edge, but not scared. Tarran was watching Tseng himself with just as much interest. In fact he looked a little like he was enjoying himself. All at once Tarran stepped further back. Something must have shown on Tseng's face what he was thinking, but he ignored Tarran's sudden insight.

          Swiftly, Tseng bought a knee up into the face of the man kneeling before him. Pivoting, he bought both of his cuffed fists around to smack Brydon. The hit had been nasty and Brydon went down onto the ground limp just as Tseng had planned. In the same movement, he kicked his foot out into the man on the other side of him catching the slow moving guy in the groin. His surprised gone, Tseng had to reassess the situation. Three were down, three more to go including Tarran who had made no move to stop him standing over in the doorway. The two remaining men looked at each other, summing up their chances on their own or whether they'd better go get reinforcements.  Seeing a few of their comrade's stir, they seemed to decide on the former and began closing on Tseng. Tseng had no desire to stay and tangle with the two remaining men and give their companions a chance to recover. But he waited for them to come closer while he formulated a plan of escape. The one on the left came in first, swinging a hasty blow at Tseng's head. Tseng dodged the blow before stepping into his overbalanced foe and smacking him across the face with his forearm, effectively breaking the man's nose. The second had the opportunity to plant a fist in Tseng's side. Tseng ignored the pain and kicked him in the stomach as his attacker danced back. Once the last blow had landed, Tseng went for the door and Tarran standing now just beyond it. 

          He was fully prepared to go /through/ Tarran if necessary, but Tarran didn't look inclined to stop him. He stepped back to allow Tseng to rush past. Therefore Tseng was quite surprised when he felt Tarran grab his arm and swing him around, his back hitting the wall with just enough force to be painful. Tseng was just about to hit back when he caught sight of something silver in Tarran's hand. Keys that he gave to Tseng. 

          "Go down this corridor and turn left, you'll reach a set of stone stairs," Tarran whispered fiercely. "Now you better hit me and get going."

          "Excuse me?"

          "Do it, before the others come."

          "You aren't coming?"

          "I've got my reasons. But I can't stay if it looks like a I helped you."

          Tseng nodded and Tarran released his grip. With a simple shrug, Tseng slugged Tarran hard but didn't bother waiting until Tarran had hit the ground before he was off running. 

          Sprinting down the corridor, he followed Tarran's instructions and turned left at the first intersection. Soon, a set of gray stone steps showed themselves up at the end of the corridor just as he'd been promised. Unfortunately, he hadn't been promised about the waiting gunman at the foot of them. Tseng skidded to a stop in the middle of the featureless corridor and glared at the blue suited man with enough viciousness to kill a rubber plant.

          "I thought you might try something like this," Arkette told him simply raising an odd looking handgun to point squarely at Tseng's chest. 

          Tseng entertained the thought of trying for the stairs, waiting ever so enticingly just beyond Arkette. Or even retracing his steps and taking a different corridor. The problem with both of those plans was that Arkette would probably shoot him before he could even tense a muscle. Unfortunately he realized too late that Arkette was going to shoot him anyway.

          "No angry taunts or recriminations?" Arkette asked mildly. "I guess you've never been one for all that garbage. Still you had me going after I killed your partner. That you were on my side, that you recruited Reno under false pretences. I really should have known better from the great Tseng. Vincent Valentine's golden boy protégé should've spotted the treachery a mile off. And so you did, even if you did have that little slum rat lapdog there to help you along. I guess I assumed too easily that you'd trust a fellow Turk before you trusted some piece of gutter filth from Rankin's little band of mercenaries. I'm sure the President will have something to say about your loyalty issues anyway, there's no need for me to say, 'shame on you', is there?"

          "I have nothing to be ashamed of," Tseng told him steadily.

          "Spoken like a true Turk. Of course my new Turks will have everything to be ashamed of. You've met more than half of them by now. Brydon, you've met. Another you haven't. Oh yes and of course, young Tarran, who you may or may not know as another of Rankin's boys. That is he if he manages to survive the trying day ahead of him. Despite the boy's nurtured greed, I think he has potential, don't you? Our old acquaintance trains his people well from what I've seen so far. A little too well, but after I've recruited the pick of them, there'll be little left of that band to worry about will there?"

          "Why tell me all this?"

          "How could I deny the cliché?" Arkette replied with a twisted smile. "Inform the hero, although I use the term loosely, of all of your evil plans right before he dies. I especially wanted to do it this time because knowing you, you would rather have not known. However, I reserve my long-term plans for a later date. Just know that your friend Rufus can just as easily be replaced for the right kind of man with the proper drive. Despite the public relationship, we both know there's no love lost between father and son, so don't assume that I am afraid because I've uncovered Rufus' treachery either. I'm merely more wary."

          Tseng realized about now that he probably should have kept running. Eventually he offered up a cold smile of his own. Arkette was right though; Tseng really hadn't wanted to know. "I assume nothing. But if I'm the hero, what does that make you?" Arkette's smile tightened just that little bit. He didn't reply. Tseng continued, "And your clichés are mixed up. Once the hero knows the scheme he then escapes the evil villain's shoddy attempts to kill him and goes on to save the day."

          Arkette forced out another tense smile to match Tseng's. "Of course you're right. At least if this were an over-budgeted action movie," Arkette pulled the trigger, "and not the cold harsh reality of real life."

*****

          In reality, there were only two Turks now. 

          And one of those two was only just newly recruited himself. In the past few weeks it had been whittled down from the usual number of five to the rather pathetic number of two.

Jasen Hawkly, the former Leader of the Turks had been gunned down in a clash with the not unknown terrorist members belonging to a fairly influential slumlord named Whitley. A clash, or rather ambush set up by a Rebel group messenger boy. Two Turks had been thought to have been killed in his clash, but this news was later proved false. Only the Turk's Leader was killed in that clash.

          Samuel Dallen, had been killed under suspicious circumstances. Most believed that the messenger rebel boy was to blame for this death as well, though few know the boy's real identity. This version of events is, of course, wrong. Dallen fell from a gunshot wound in the chest delivered to him by a fellow Turk by the name of Anthony Arkette. Even less know the truth of /that/ story. The messenger boy, while present, was there in aid of Dallen, not against him.

Masu Tseng, has been missing now for more than a few days and is thought to have been kidnapped by the very people responsible for tampering with the Vice-President's helicopter, an episode that was without a doubt and effort to end Rufus Shinra's life. His current whereabouts are unknown, and it is extremely possible that he might be dead.

Desmond Gafford, thought to have been killed by a local drug dealer for reasons unknown was, in fact, a traitor to his company and comrades, killed by that little known ex-rebel messenger boy cum Turk…

…Reno…

_"Reno, I still need last name for you."_

_"Keep your fuckin' pants on, I'll get to it when I have a chance!"_

Reno really didn't have a spare moment now either, but he'd come here anyway. He had three hours before the opening ceremony and still quite a few things to work out. And here he was, sitting in his car, staring at an old half torn-down apartment building, doing nothing. 

He supposed he was here because he needed time to think. Sure he'd had a fair amount of time to think things over lately, but he really hadn't made use of his time. The pure scope of what was happening had barely even registered. And now that it was, he wasn't all that sure he was very happy about it. Of course he wouldn't be, but this was the first time so much depended on him. Him personally. And to be totally honest, he was a little afraid. 

Okay so he wasn't exactly a modest person by nature, but he hardly gave himself airs /that/ far above himself. He knew what he was good at, sneered at what he wasn't and basically tried to cruise through life with little to no real worry about anything or anyone around him. Basically he just didn't know the word; responsibility. Thankfully, he /did/ know the words; monetary recompense, otherwise he might've said, 'find someone who cares, I'm going for a drink.' It also might've had something to do with the small matters of friendship. Reno had friends, he had loads of friends. But that didn't mean he had ever had to be 'responsible' for them. Basically up until now, friends had consisted of people you knew who would probably leave you in a puddle of your own blood because basically, they had more pressing concerns regarding their own sense of survival that were far more vital than that of their supposed friend. And Reno couldn't blame them one bit, he felt basically the same way. It was a nasty world out there and if you wanted to survive you had to worry about yourself and not the other million uncaring souls who shared that world with you. 

Then there were the others. The people who would go out of their way to help you and therefore you'd help them in return. It was such a startling discovery for Reno when he'd found one such person that he'd unconsciously grabbed a hold of it with both greedy hands and hung on. People like Tarran. While Tarran wasn't the most gracious and noble man in the world, there was something of a personal honor in him that Reno felt himself drawn to and duplicating even though Tarran had insisted that Reno had already possessed it before fully knowing him. But of course Tarran said that, Tarran was his friend. 

Rankin was another of a kind. Not a friend, but someone Reno had been a little impressed with. While Rankin would get rid of someone more trouble than they were worth in his group, he did try to keep a certain pride in his underlings, made sure they were fed and clothed and kept them out of their own personal troubles. Reno could respect that considering he had been one of Rankin's more trying charges and he had to admit, he could respect a man like that and do more than return a favor more times than not.

But then of course there were men like Tseng and Dallen. He couldn't figure them out. They weren't friends. The best honor they ascribed to was a kind of collective Turk honor that didn't really seem all that honorable and they'd used Reno harshly for their own gains. Of course, if Reno just looked at things in that light, he wouldn't even be in this position. But he was, he taken Tseng's offer and become a Turk. Probably because he figured that the Turks weren't much better than himself anyway, maybe because the pay was so astounding he felt like a rich man even before his first paycheck. However, Dallen may have had something to do with that as well. He had treated Reno as an equal in the end, a trustworthy comrade even. While Tarran treated him that way as well, he and Tarran shared basically the same life. Dallen had not. Tseng and Dallen could have killed him, but they hadn't. In fact they had instilled in him such a sense of self-worth, of being needed that it made him realize it had been something he had severely lacked before. Arrogance and insolence was a fine mask for someone to hide behind. It kept you alive. Facing down a man with a knife who wanted to slit your throat with a cocky attitude and an impish smile gave them more pause than a man who took to cowering in a corner. While he felt assured that he wasn't the most inept criminal, not even close in fact, being good in a fight didn't mean that you felt useful. And Reno knew now that Tseng and Dallen had instilled in him a sense of usefulness that had only rarely in the past been inspired by Rankin or his fellow Rebels. He wasn't facing things down now with a joke and a smile, thinking he was good enough to pull through it. He was facing life now with a mischievous half-smile, /knowing/ that he would pull through because he had purpose behind him and a whole new scope regarding confidence. He had a use, and like Tseng had told him on that last ditch effort at recruiting him, he was needed. And he could be content with that.

He was still cocky, insolent, abusive and arrogant. But now he preferred to think of those as finely tuned character traits rather than weapons. After all, just because he had real friends now, it didn't mean they had to love him and his new found self. That would be going overboard. Reno smiled to himself at that last thought. So what if Tseng wanted to strangle him, at least Tseng recognized the danger of trying such a stunt.

The smile didn't last long though when his eyes focused back on the building that had started his musings about his short unremarkable life. 

          While the building itself didn't represent anything overly saddening, a certain apartment in it might. The building was just another place in a long stream of places that Reno had floated through at one point in his life. This particular one was just the last in that line before he had got out, helped along by a not totally unwelcome shove by a man he had barely known for two days. When he thought about it, he figured there was only really one sector he hadn't lived in at some point. He had spent most of his childhood in a place in Sector Three, but his mother had hinted more than once that he hadn't been born there. More like he had been born around Sector Seven or something. But it wasn't like she probably remembered all that well either. She had really only let that much slip when as a young boy he had complained about moving from Three over to a neighboring area and Reno's mother had tried to stifle his bothersome protests with the cold truth that Sector Three wasn't his home anyway. But he was back in the Sector now, because this had been the area they had moved back to after leaving their even more modest dwelling over in Sector Five. A new man for his mother had meant a new place for them to live and naturally a new father figure for himself. He vaguely remembered that only one of those men had been truly happy with the idea of a new son to go along with his woman and the last one had even ordered him to leave or he would have kicked both him and his mother out. His mother being the pure essence of dutiful maternity had told him without a moment's thought to do as he was told. After all, she had probably only kept him around before that because he bought her the occasional pile of ill gotten gil which she ultimately spent on either her current man or on ways to get yet another one. In fact, Reno was so easily gotten rid of that he thought it likely that he might have a range of half-siblings out there for all he knew who had suffered a similar fate to him. Also, for all he knew, one of the men he had lived with from one time or another could have been his real father. His mother didn't seem above going back once or twice to the same man for lack of anyone new that was for sure. Of course none had some outstanding characteristic great enough to blame for his coming into the world, he had gotten most of his features off his mother even if she usually bleached her hair to hide it, so he couldn't be sure of any of them. And frankly he didn't want to find out. The only one of the pack he would have been happy enough to call father had sadly assured him that it wasn't possible. 

          So when looking for a last name, he had immediately thought of adopting the name of that once nicer individual that couldn't have been his father. Or even one of the ones that treated him well enough, if a little despondently. Hell, he would have preferred one of the unknown ones that only were around maybe two or three days at a time than one of those bastards who treated him worse than a slave. But because of their outstanding qualities as assholes, those were the ones who most stuck in his mind and therefore some of the only ones he properly remembered. Basically he could be a Kirk (wretched asshole who could punch like he was made out of stone), a Feife (disturbing fellow who was often caught looking at him and his mother with equally hungry eyes), a Macalister (his beloved mother's supposed last name) or an Anderson (nice enough guy who came through once or twice but never stayed long enough for Reno to get a clear enough impression of). A string of bad, nasty and downright evil choices. If worse came to worse, he supposed he could just make one up. But he was reluctant to do so for reasons he couldn't bring himself to understand. 

          Caught within a stupid dilemma like this, at a time like this seemed ludicrous. But it was just the sort of stupid little problem he felt he should get over before he went too far forward with his new life. 

          Not that he was likely to find answers here anyway. The chances of his mother being here even a year after he'd been kicked out seemed too extraordinary. But it seemed as good as any other place to sit and think things through without the seemingly constant harassment of dealing with the opening ceremony and his various worries about his missing friends.

          Well, for a little while at least.

******

          The M1 had originally begun construction almost twenty years ago now. So long ago in fact that you could tell the age of the various sections of completed freeway by the color of the tar that covered it. An almost white gray signified the earliest portions built in Sector 1 and ran for maybe a little under a mile before a different colored darker gray section began and lasted for another maybe two hundred meters. And on it went, darker as it passed through all the sectors in Upper Midgar till it came back around in a distinctly black color to end up back where it had begun in Sector 1. A full circuit of the city, suspended as most new roads were above the upper plate itself, finally finished after two decades of being put off in favor of some venture or another. And of course, it was fully Shinra funded. The problem was that the executives in Shinra just didn't care about commuter problems. And if the President was presented with something else more lucrative or interesting, he'd had no qualms about shutting off construction of the freeway and re-diverting funds as it suited his mood. 

          "Pissed off Harvey," Rufus commented at the end of his history lesson as he looked out of the window of his limo as it drove onto the freeway itself and started the journey toward Sector 1 where the opening was set to take place. "Poor bastard kept seeing his funds disappearing into the Science Department, never to be seen again."

          Reno yawned. He wasn't even pretending to look interested. "Who's Harvey then?"

          "Head of Urban Development," Rufus told him. "Really Reno, you've got to start learning these things. Still I don't suppose it matters much. Harvey's almost seventy and should be retiring soon. I'd imagine he'd be happy to see the opening before he does leave though. He wants to be the one to choose his replacement. Odd request and I doubt my father will allow it. Harvey and the President don't have what you might call a strong friendly relationship nowadays."

          "Fascinating," Reno commented in a bored tone.

          Rufus gave him a look. "So what /about/ the opening?" Rufus asked pointedly. "Should I have remembered to bring a crash helmet?"

          Reno gave the joke some serious thought. "Well, I guess it would have kept your famous head intact if nothing else. Literally."

          "I shudder to imagine the amount of drugs Tseng must have been on when he thought of hiring you."

          "So does he I reckon. Look," Reno leant across the space dividing the seats in the back of the limo in an attempt to appear more serious. "My resources aren't as limited as Arkette thinks they are. He thinks it's just me against him and his posse but he's wrong. Rankin is going to be out there and that alone gives me an extra Turk where he doesn't have one. Also, I'm going to be in direct contact with the people he bought from his Rebel house. Arkette might suspect as much, but I doubt he knows the lengths Rankin is going to in order to see the bastard nailed good and truly. They're going to be sweeping the area during the ceremony while I keep an eye on you all the time you're on stage. If Arkette so much as twitches I'll put a bullet in him."

          Reno didn't mention that the odds of hitting Arkette were pretty slim. Reno still hadn't been able to practice with his new firearm yet. Time just hadn't let him. But Rufus didn't need to know that.

          Rufus though, looked like he was having reservations of his own. "You can't just shoot him because you /think/ he's about to do something. If you shoot him without proof, you'll be called up for murder."

          Reno shrugged and leant back in his chair. "To be honest, I don't really give a flying shit anymore. Whether we get the proof we need or not, Arkette dies today."

          Reno's apparent casualness about killing someone in cold blood must've unnerved Rufus a little to tell by the look on his face. "You're not sure today is the day he's going to try anything are you?"

          "As positive as I can be. I wasn't sure about it till this morning when I had a chance to talk to him. He might as well of shouted out his intentions through the building intercom to tell by the smug look he gave me. The back-stabbing asshole must really be feeling trapped if he'd give something away so easily."

          Rufus turned his head to look back out of the window. Up ahead they could just see the beginnings of the congregated crowd, awaiting the arrival of the Vice-President. "I guess I'll just have to trust you."

          Not for the first time that morning, Reno started feeling a little squirmy. Nerves he supposed.

***

          Tarran watched with a black look as his temporary partner dumped Tseng onto the ground, kicking the drugged and unconscious Turk once in the ribs for good measure while he was at it. Tarran didn't comment at all, nor change the look on his face. He had good reason to be wearing it, Tseng punched like a jackhammer. Tarran worked his aching jaw and rubbed it gingerly as Cam, his partner, spat on the ground, narrowly missing Tseng's head.

          "Fucking Turks," he muttered. "I'm still spitting up blood."

          "I think I'm going to loose a tooth or two," Tarran replied truthfully.

          Cam stretched and took the chance to look around them while he wasn't trying to lug the weight of Tseng around anymore. "Nice view. A bit obvious though. This has gotta be the only rooftop high enough to see the roadway this close. And we sure are close. I swear I'll be able to see the color of the Vice-President's eyes from here."

          It was a pretty sure bet that Cam was right. Where they were, they were probably only half a floor above the height of the highway and probably only just far enough away that they couldn't have hit Rufus himself with a well thrown stone, but perhaps the edge of the highway itself.

          "I think that's the point," Tarran replied. 

          "Oh."

          The look on Cam's face wasn't much better than his own. Neither were looking forward to this assignment, though their problems with it differed some. Cam didn't have a problem killing, he just had a problem with how Arkette was setting up the ruse. A plan that they'd only just been told about in great detail. Both had known that they were playing the part of villain to counter Arkette's later role of hero, but too many holes in the plan had made them all a little uneasy. It depended on too many things going wrong from Shinra's side of things. For one, Tarran and Cam couldn't stay hidden before or after they'd detonated the bomb waiting to kill the Vice-President. They needed to stay within remote access to the bomb and to be seen to be suspicious before the event. That wasn't really the hard part. A gunshot would do quite nicely at this distance. And for that, Cam would shoot Tseng with his own Shinra issue. The shot would be the signal for Arkette to follow through on his part in the plan. Apparently he'd bribed some of the Shinra helicopter pilots into staying on alert during this afternoon. The chopper would already be on it's way by the time the shot was heard but get there a few minutes after, landing on a spot on the highway well away from the podium. Arkette would tell his fellow Turk that he was going to investigate not giving Reno the opportunity to oppose the idea or get to the chopper before him. Once Arkette was airborne and heading toward the suspicious rooftop, Tarran and Cam would detonate the bomb. Hopefully the blast wouldn't kill off all of Arkette's necessary witnesses as he landed on the rooftop and captured the evil villains; Cam, Tarran and their leader, Tseng who it would be told later had forced the unwilling pair to play minion to the Turk Leader's evil genius. Arkette would take credit for shooting Tseng when he was found to be the one leading the bombing.

Well, that was how the plan was supposed to go, but Tarran had his doubts. To him, it sounded way to convoluted and well, stupid. He didn't understand why Arkette would go to all this trouble. He could have killed Tseng at any number of points and blamed the death on anyone he wanted. But then again, Tarran wasn't to know the depths to which Arkette hated Tseng.

          Tarran strode over toward the edge of the building and looked out toward the highway. "I've got to admit, Arkette's plans do lack a certain simplicity."

          "You ain't got that wrong," Cam agreed fiddling with the remote detonator. It was a small thing of black plastic with the unmistakable big red button. 

          "Who's gonna believe Tseng, golden boy of Shinra, was mixed up in this?"

          "The President, Arkette told us." Cam looked up from the device and gave Tarran an odd look. "You not chickening out are you?"

          Tarran forced a smile. "What? And totally miss out on my chance, you're kidding right?"

          Cam shrugged and went back to his fiddling. "Well Arkette reckons that he has a special ear with the President, and that if enough people can be gathered against Tseng that the old man'll listen to reason."

          "I suppose," Tarran said. "I reckon that the President just wouldn't care enough to think about it. He'll be happier just knowing that there's someone to blame."

          "Either way, we win. What does it matter?"

          "True." Tarran took a deep breath as he watched the V.P.'s limo edge up to the awaiting crowd gathered on the roadway. "I guess it's just Arkette's promises that make me itch. D'you think he'll really make us Turks?"

          Cam looked up again and frowned. "Sure. I mean after this he's not going to have any Turks to be Leader of. He'll need people."

          "Us?"

          Cam's frown deepened. "At the very least he'll need us to grass Tseng."

          Tarran pretended to look relieved even though he wasn't. He had hoped to make this go a little smoother. He shouldn't have even tried really. He'd accomplished nothing but make Cam even more suspicious of him. After all Cam didn't have to worry about Arkette double-crossing him, Cam was a proved follower of Arkette's cause. Tarran was the unproven one. Tarran was the one who Arkette didn't fully trust. All Arkette needed was Cam there to profess Tseng's treachery, Tarran was only there to implicate Reno, therefore enforcing Tseng's guilt. And Tarran knew full well, that his body could do that just as well as a voiced confession, especially if Arkette was still unsure about him. He had been hoping that Cam was just as uneasy about the plan as he was. But unfortunately, Cam seemed confident in his position and intelligent enough to know that he was needed. Smug bastard.

          "You're right. It's not like I'm worried. I just wish we could have fed the Turk a bullet instead of hauling him up here."

          "You got that straight." Cam grinned and looked past Tarran. "That the Vice President's car?"

          "Looks like it."

          "Good. The sooner we get this over with, the better. I want to get this done before Tseng wakes up. Can't shoot him yet, it needs to look fresh enough for Arkette."

          Tarran tried to look happy at the prospect. "Pity. I hate waiting."

***

          Reno rearranged the earpiece in his ear in maybe his sixth attempt to make the thing feel a little more comfortable and less odd feeling. He just wasn't used to all these gadgets, he supposed. 

          There were a few things Reno supposed he could expect today. One was, and surprisingly the last worry on his mind, that he might die. The other was that Tseng was probably out there needing rescuing. And lastly, that something, at some point today would most likely blow up. Arkette hadn't gone through all that trouble getting mako bombs if he was only going to use one of them was he? That was actually a bit of a bonus. Shooters could take pot shots from a variety of places and Reno basically just didn't have the manpower to check each and every good scooping spot within sight of the roadway. A bomb meant that it was close by and that presented him with the option to therefore try to do something about it before it blew up. Of course this was all on the assumption that today was the day Arkette had obviously been plotting his way up to.

          Having Arkette on crowd detail was an even bigger bonus. Reno could keep an eye on the slimy asshole and wait for the slight twitch that might mean something was about to happen. 

Now, thought Reno, if I was a low powered mako bomb, where would I be?

          Probably right underneath the Vice President. But that was a stupid thought, he had already checked underneath the stage and all the other obvious spots.

          The ceremony began while Reno was still thinking it over, wishing like hell he had more people on his side, not to mention being aware of today's festivities a little more in advance so he had the proper time to check the place over much more thoroughly. 

          The sturdy red bannered, wooden stage was a fairly large affair with enough room on either side of the podium to comfortably sit all the dozen or so necessary and honorary personages needed for the event. The mayor and his deputy, the department head for Urban Development Harvey and all his assorted lackeys. Then perhaps more surprisingly Heidigar, Reno's new boss present as the Head of Safety and Public Relations. A joke in itself when thought about properly. Essentially Heidigar was in charge of Shinra's military and the Turk's own division, Administrative Research. 

Reno had yet to find out about any of his 'Administrative Research' type chores, but if they were anything like his others he figured it was most likely administratively researching someone into the ground. Literally. He'd have to remember next time when chasing a bad guy to warn him; 'stop or I'll administrate you!' Well maybe not. Not till now did he realize just how bondage happy that might sound…

Reno mentally smacked himself as he watched Harvey get up to make his speech from his vantage point just off to the left of the stage. He was letting himself be distracted.

"Anything yet Rankin?" Reno asked through his radio.

"Not one damn thing."

Reno swore. "Keep looking. I don't want to have thought of something five minutes too late you know. Bombs aren't exactly known to give second chances, know what I mean?"

Reno took a few restless paces forward before stopping dead, his mouth falling open. "Fuck, I just thought of something."****

It was at this point also that Reno heard the sound of an approaching helicopter.

          And then, the gunshot.****

***

          Tarran stood just behind Cam as the other man was crouched down beside Tseng, untying all the bonds holding the Turk's hands and feet. After all it wouldn't look too good for their plan if Tseng was found shot and bound. And basically Arkette just wouldn't have the time to do it himself once he was over here. It had to look as though Tseng was caught over here totally involved with the bombing before Arkette came over. And that also meant that Tseng had to be somewhat awake for the witnesses on the chopper. Cam had hoped to achieve this by shooting Tseng. Not fatally, that was an honor reserved by Arkette only. No, just shoot him to slow him down enough so that he wouldn't present too many problems later. Soften him up, so to speak. After all, the guy couldn't put up much of a fight when he could hardly stand up properly. They had initially thought that this might be a problem if the chopper pilots could see that Tseng was in such a state to begin with, but Arkette had guaranteed that Tseng's own pride wouldn't allow him to die on his knees any more that it allowed him to admit defeat even at the end.

          The gunshot would be written off later as Tarran and Cam's attempt to stop their evil boss' lust for power. It would add credence to their admittance into the Turk's later. So long as Tseng was seen to be a threat at the time by the witnesses, it wouldn't matter one whit.

          Or so the theory went.

          Cam stood up suddenly, finished with the bonds and reached around to remove his gun from the waistband of his jeans. Tarran caught his hand. He just didn't know what else to do.

          Cam's eyes widened and he watched Tarran in surprise. "What're you doing? We got a schedule."

          "So we do. But I've got loyalties and a conscience. I can't let you do this."

          Cam's surprise didn't last much longer than that. "Traitor," he hissed.

          Finger on the trigger he managed to get off one shot, but the angle was way off and it missed Tarran by miles. Cam couldn't get Tarran, but he couldn't let him have the gun either. Instead he twisted away from Tarran making both of them lose their grip on the gun. It flew away from their hands and skidded along the rooftop. Neither of them saw where it landed because by then, the fight had been joined.

          Tarran himself was usually pretty confident in a fight against anyone but the biggest and fastest of opponents. He had been hired by Rankin to serve as muscle on certain jobs that required such. Not that Tarran himself was overly large or bulky. He was tall, strong, but on average didn't dominate in largeness whoever he was fighting. That was okay, because he was usually faster than larger men. Not fast like Reno, but faster than say Dart. He used his speed in most fights relying mainly on those around him for the heavier punches. But Tarran had been regretting this little sortie since meeting Cam. Cam was unfortunately built more like Tarran than someone like Dart, less strong but a hell of a lot more agile. There were certain kinds of people Tarran just couldn't win against. Really big people like John. And really quick people like Reno. He was willing to bet that Cam was one of the latter.

          As it turned out, Tarran had been absolutely correct in his assumption. Not to mention the fact that Cam seemed like a trained fighter rather than Tarran's own loose form of half-taught, half-learned, just hit them before they hit you fighting style.

          He managed to block the first few fists that flew toward his head, but a kick landed solidly in his mid-section huffing out his air and making him stagger back against the concrete barricade at the edge of the building. He threw out an arm against the concrete to brace himself and slumped slightly as he wheezed for breath. Every second counted though and Tarran hadn't quite gotten his breath back before Cam closed in. Not quite recovered, Tarran straightened up and threw a clumsy fist out toward his attacker. Cam deftly stepped around the punch and caught Tarran's arm. One hand on Tarran's upper arm the other on the opposite side of his forearm, Cam bought the first hand back sharply before striking, quick as lightening with a force that Tarran wouldn't have believed possible for the smaller man. The resounding snap made Tarran swoon. Hot pain flared up his arm from his elbow making him cry out and drop to his knees. Cam let him.

          As Tarran cradled his broken arm, Cam circled him, gloating.

          "Did you think that Arkette would have chosen me for such a crucial part of his plan if I could be swayed from my duty or be defeated by the likes of you? Don't make me laugh. We may come from the same part of Midgar Tarran, but Arkette wouldn't just pick me up off the streets and not train me well for this."

          With intense willpower, Tarran forced himself to his feet before Cam, the implication that Cam himself was better than him spurring him on. He wasn't in the best condition though and all Cam had to do was wait until Tarran had taken a few decent steps forward before going in low and sweeping the rebel's feet out from under him. Prepared or not for an attack, Tarran went down. 

          He stayed down for a few moments longer before getting back up. Cam was obviously confused, Tarran was apparently supposed to stay down. Unthinkingly, Cam charged. 

          Cam really should have thought about it more. Tarran moved to the side quickly, tripping the surprised Cam as he went by. The smaller man stumbled out of control until Tarran grabbed the back of his shirt with his good hand, rescuing Cam from an accidental collision with the concrete barricade and propelling him more forcefully into a quite deliberate collision. Cam's head fairly bounced off the concrete leaving a nasty wet mark where he had impacted. Using his strength to his advantage, Tarran stopped Cam from collapsing and gave the man the necessary shove higher this time. The barricade folded Cam in half making Tarran duck down and pick up his feet to give him the last little push to send him on his way. Cam tumbled over and disappeared from sight.

          Breathing hard and in pain, Tarran slid down against the wall and held his throbbing arm.

          "Yeah well, I guess now he'll have to pick you up off the street with a shovel hey, you fuckin' prick."****

*

          At the same moment Tarran was preparing himself to face Cam, Reno was standing off to one side of the stage, staring at the center podium with an intense kind of wide-eyed panic as the Head of Urban Development gave his long-winded victory speech concerning the finalization of the Midgar No.1. Freeway.

          Reno himself was way too shocked and horrified to make himself move. The internal litany that played over and over in his head said simply; _Please, gods, I can't have been that stupid._

Rufus meanwhile had caught a glimpse of Reno's expression as he waited in one of the chairs behind the podium to give his own speech. He tried to catch the young Turk's expression, but Reno might as well have been in another world for all the good it did him. Eventually he stood and slipped as anonymously as he could off the stage and toward Reno who was by this point seriously starting to worry the older executive.

          "Reno, what's wrong? You look like someone is about to die."

          Reno didn't seem to hear, just kept staring until Rufus nudged his shoulder.

          "Tell me I can't have been that stupid."

          "What? What are you talking about? Stupid about what?"

          "I've had Rankin and his boys check everywhere over this area. Under the stage, even under the highway for another of those mako bombs. So far we haven't turned up shit. There is no way that I could have been so fucking stupid and forgotten about the most obvious of places." Rufus watched Reno chew his lip for a moment and scan the crowd.

          "What was that noise before?" 

          "Backfire I guess. But I'm a little itchy about that so I sent Rankin's guys out to scout a bit. I should hear back from them soon."

          Rufus was about to say something else before the sound of chopper blades silenced further conversation. A Shinra helicopter hove into view in that moment, moving up the freeway before settling onto a clear section of road on the other side of the assembled crowd. People scowled over their shoulders at the noise and the artificial gusts of wind tearing at their clothing, but most were used to seeing Shinra choppers and didn't look for too long. On the stage, Harvey just raised his voice to be heard over the noise.

          Through gaps in the crowd, Reno and Rufus saw a blue suited-dark haired man running toward the chopper at a full sprint.

          "Arkette," Reno barked into his radio. "What are you up to?" Reno demanded beginning to make his way through the crowd toward the chopper.

          "I've been watching that closest building, I think what we heard was a gunshot, I'm going to check it out."

          "Don't fuck with me, what are you doing? Damnit, wait!"

          Just as Reno broke free of the crowd, the chopper took to the air and began heading off toward the building Arkette had indicated. From inside the open door, Arkette saluted Reno and threw something down to him that clattered onto the tar by Reno's feet. It was Arkette's earpiece for his radio.

          "Son of a bitch!" Reno yelled toward the departing chopper.

          "This ain't good," A voice behind Reno commented. Reno spun back around to find Rankin standing there, watching as Arkette made his getaway. "If he's leaving-"

          "Then something big's about to happen." Reno finished. "Shit," he remembered, "Rufus, the stage!"

          Reno turned and raced back toward the stage. He didn't know if Rankin was following but could hopefully assume that he was. Back at the stage, Harvey was just finishing up and Rufus had resumed his seat getting ready for his own speech that was supposed to follow.

          Reno stopped and tried to think of the best way to approached the situation. Rankin puffed up beside him.

          "Had any bright ideas?"

          "I'd hardly call them bright. How could I have been so blind!"

          "What?"

          "The podium! It's light so it's got to be hollow, and in about two seconds, Rufus is going to be standing right in front of it!"

          "You're right. That's pretty dark. You better get up there, who cares if you're wrong," he told Reno's expression. "You've gotta be sure as sure otherwise we're sunk."

          "Right," Reno affirmed with a confident nod. Not allowing himself to think anymore, he jumped up the stairs and walked across the stage toward Harvey and the podium. 

          Harvey began to stutter a few times as he noticed the Turk walking so resolutely toward him, but to his credit, he managed to continue right up until the point Reno got to him and quickly whispered his suspicions into the other man's ear.

          A surprised crowd saw Harvey scurry backwards out of the way while Reno set about prying the back of the wooden podium off with his boot knife. The board came off easily enough and Reno let it drop beside him. 

          "I'm starting to hate being right." Reno muttered to himself.

          Those behind the podium could see past Reno and the device he was squatting in front of. A few women screamed but all, men and women both, jumped up from their chairs and began running off the stage. One hysterical man informed the crowd, "Bomb! There's a bomb!" But Reno tried to block out the rest of the distractions. 

          "Is that thing armed?" Rufus asked mildly squatting down next to Reno. The calm voice was only betrayed by the slightly panicked look in his blue eyes. Reno supposed that he didn't look that much better himself.

          "And what makes you think that I'm suddenly a bomb specialist. Shouldn't you be running for your life or something?"

          "Do you think it would help?"

          "Point."

          "So what are you going to do?"

          "Rankin, ideas?"

          Rufus jumped as Rankin cleared his throat just behind the unsuspecting man. Ranking ducked his head to better see what Reno was so intently peering at.

          "Bloody Shinra weapons. I used to train disarming shit like this. Move aside kiddos while I take a look at 'er."

          Both Reno and Rufus diligently moved aside for Rankin. The Rebel Leader spent a few moments fiddling with the device, unscrewing bits and cutting wires until eventually they heard him huff out a surprised 'oh'.

          "Don't tell me," Reno insisted.

          Rankin ignored him. "It's trapped. I didn't see that coming.  We gotta toss it. Now."

          "How?" Rufus asked while Reno scanned the area.

          Reno straightened suddenly. "Move."

          Rufus and Rankin barely got aside in time before Reno kicked out, knocking the podium out of it's moorings and onto it's side.

          "Rufus, grab that edge, we're gonna lift it up."

          Rankin grinned. "Good thinking, I'll go try to get the crowd back."

          As Rankin jumped off the edge of the stage Rufus scrambled to the side opposite Reno as the two heaved the podium up off the stage.

          "We're carrying a bomb Reno," Rufus told him calmly. "What in the name of Ramuh do you expect we do with it?"

          "We do like Rankin suggested," Reno told him steering them both down the stairs and in the right direction. "We toss it."

          "But, what about the buildings below us?!"

          Reno gave Rufus a twisted and totally unamused grin. "I honestly don't think it'll make it down that far. Arkette's almost over to the other building."

          "Oh," a subdued Rufus said.

          Arriving at the side, they hauled it up on top of the concrete barricade before Reno gave it one last kick to send it over the side.

          Again, Reno wished that he wasn't always right. The bomb exploded less than halfway down sending up a wave of heat, flame and dust to lick at the sides of the freeway. Reno crouched down next to Rufus behind the safety of the concrete and waited for the heat to subside.

*

          Cam wasn't unconscious on his flight over the edge of the building. Surprise, anger and finally panic were the only things coursing through his pain filled mind. He had no thinking mind left by this stage, but months of severe training at the hands of Arkette had ingrained one major reflex into every action he made. That simple thing was to get the job done, no matter what. This ability allowed him to find the small black remote on his belt, allowed him to depress the button on it's otherwise clear black plastic face as he plummeted down the face of the glass paneled building toward his death awaiting him on the sidewalk below. 

And finally, allowed Cam to get the final fuck you.****

*

          Reno swiped his jacket collar over his dust filled eyes and tried to peer over at the building roof across the way. It was obvious that that was where Arkette was heading even after Reno had managed to take care of the bomb. Arkette might be swearing and carrying on right about now, but he'd come too far to not try to scrape at least /something/ out of this mess. No doubt he was still trying to end up the hero and for Reno to have a chance at stopping that, he needed to get over to that rooftop. He couldn't understand why, but something was telling him to be quick about it too. 

          "Is there some other way over to that building?" He called back to a coughing Rufus. 

          Under different circumstances, Reno might have found the sight of Rufus amusing. The O so mighty Rufus Shinra as dirty and ragged looking as any slum rat and no better off that Reno under the effects of the kicked up grit and dust swallowing the scene. 

          "Apart from going all the way down to street level you mean?" Rufus asked when he could. "Not that I can see. You sure as Hades can't jump that distance."

          Reno was about to mutter something obscene at Rufus for the suggestion but a sudden idea stopped the comment before it could come out. Instead Reno grinned at Rufus and said, "You're absolutely right. I guess I'll need some help in that department then."

          Before Rufus could even frown, Reno had turned away from the edge and begun running back toward the row of parked cars further on down the road. 

          "Rankin, Dart, meet me down by the parked cars. The rest of you clear the road."

          "Reno, what are you up to?"

          "I'll tell you when you meet me. You can yell at me then, but we've gotta go catch Arkette and we're losing time."

          "I hear that. We're over by the podium, give us five."

          When Rankin and Dart did finally catch up to Reno and hear the young Turk's idea, Rankin swore so violently that it even made Dart take a step back. 

          "I take it you think my idea's pretty insane huh?" Reno asked after Rankin had finished.

          "Insane doesn't even begin to…" Rankin stopped his rant and forced himself to take a calming breath. "This isn't some action movie, Reno. In real life, people get killed trying this kind of shit."

          Reno grinned. "Actually I've never seen it attempted in real life so I wouldn't know."

          Rankin closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. "Fine, fine. Let's just do this. And for fucks sake make sure that building's cleared out before you try this little stunt."

*

          As soon as the chopper touched down on the roof, Arkette jumped off it at a run, angling for the only standing person still on the roof, Tarran. The usually so robust looking man was ragged from fighting and clutching a bloodied arm to himself. When he saw Arkette racing toward him, he let his injured arm swing down loosely at his side. He made no move otherwise and just patiently waited for the Turk to catch him up.

          "Damn, it's good to see you boss. You wouldn't imagine what I've just been through."

          Arkette slowed his pace to a jog, knowing that something else must have gone wrong. Tarran was supposed to be running from him. Sure the chopper crew wouldn't be able to hear Tarran over the loud whirring of the blades, but the little puke was still supposed to make this look good for the sake of the witnesses. Just in case, Arkette turned back toward the chopper and motioned for them to take off again, but stay close enough to be flagged down if needed. Hopefully that would give him the space needed to question Tarran further.

          "Where's Cam?"

          "Looked over the side of the building? The bastard was tryna stop the bomb. That's how I got so messed up."

          That made Arkette stop entirely, gun clutched tightly in his right hand. "He wouldn't betray me. That's why I chose him for this. I trust him entirely. Which, I might add, is more than I can say for you."

          "What?" Tarran appeared angry. "I just tried to save the mission for you. That bomb would never have gone off if it weren't for me."

          Arkette's mouth twisted as he raised his gun to point squarely at Tarran's chest, "You're lying. Where's Tseng?"

          A distant roar from the direction of the highway caught both of their attention at that moment. Arkette swung his head around just in time to see a shiny black sports car smash through the barricade at the edge of the road and make a thunderous plunge toward the midlevels of the building they were currently standing on top of. Arkette was so shocked at the sight that he nearly ran to the edge just to see what happened to the car, but a scuffling noise in front of him made him swing his head back toward Tarran in time to see the boy turn and run. Arkette immediately fired a few shots toward the retreating figure, but Tarran dove behind a nest of air conditioning units. Though Arkette had the satisfaction of seeing a red puff erupt as one of his bullets managed to catch the rebel, he was a little too far away and it had happened too quick for him to see where he had hit him. A few things stopped Arkette from immediately chasing the double-crossing bastard. The first and foremost one was that Tarran had obviously planned this to some degree and therefore might have a weapon waiting for him behind the convenient cover he'd found. Tseng was obviously nowhere to be seen, and that didn't fill Arkette with joy either. He didn't want to take the chance that Cam hadn't had time to do away with the asshole before Tarran had killed him. Considering the circumstances, not to mention all the things that had gone wrong today, Arkette was not feeling particularly lucky. 

          Another problem was the car he had seen careening toward the building, mid-flight. He may've been too caught up in the excitement to feel the impact, and the helicopter would have covered any and all noise of breaking glass below. So he made himself assume that the car had made it over. And there weren't many guesses he'd need to say just who had led that particular suicidal charge. Therefore he should probably end this before Reno could get up here. He may just win the day yet.

*

          Reno lifted his head from its rather sore position on the steering wheel and made the immense mistake of shaking the glass shards out of his hair. For his effort, his head swam and his stomach heaved threatening to empty its contents of his burritos and whiskey breakfast all over what was left of his dusty blue suit. He forced himself to swallow.

          "Rankin, Dart, you guys alive?"

          "That's strictly for a doctor to decide. But seeing as there isn't one around, I'd have to say no."

          Dart merely raised his head from its slump, shook it and grunted. Naturally, Reno took that as a yes.

          "If you can talk, you can move. C'mon, I think we landed in the middle somewhere so there's some stairs we'll probably need to climb." 

          As Reno reached for the door handle, something wet trickled down between his eyes, which he absently wiped away. The door wouldn't budge when he tried to open it, but a well-placed kick fixed that little problem. Now that he could see where they'd landed, he noticed the sheer amount of glass and broken desk and other assorted office junk and almost groaned, wondering briefly if Shinra would take the damage out of his paycheck. Reno rubbed his head, now he /knew/ he was delirious. 

          The car itself had skidded to a stop a good halfway across the room marking the white polished floor with some nasty black tire marks. Reno was actually surprised that he'd been lucid enough to put the car into a skid at all. He wasn't the world's greatest driver to begin with, though he was beginning to realize that he might be something of a wonder at crashing them. But that was a story for another time. Right now, he needed to get the troops, such as they were, moving and up to the roof where he could kill Arkette. The thought gave him enough strength to haul himself up onto his fairly steady feet and turn to help Rankin shove open the back door. 

          "And you were so sure we were gonna die," Reno commented, helping Rankin up and onto his feet.

          "You've got some kind of devil's luck Reno. Oh, stop grinning Dart," Rankin snapped at him, "There's people that need rescuing and an evil bastard that needs killing, so stop standing around like a tranqed chocobo and help Dart up."

          "Yes, Sir." 

          As it turned out, the elevator still seemed to be in working order despite the smoking, open-air accident zone that the fourteenth floor had become. Reno had only jabbed the button out of curiosity as he was passing and was therefore very surprised when the lift 'pinged' and started counting up floors toward theirs. 

          "'Least we wont havta climb up all them stairs," was Dart's positive remark to the group.

          "Wonder why it's still working?" Reno wondered aloud. "Don't these things shut off in a fire?"

          Rankin gave him a weary look. "What the fuck does it matter? We get to save ourselves a lot of footwork."

          "I guess. But suppose the thing breaks down halfway up or something?"

          Rankin immediately opened his mouth to tell him to shut up, but he froze halfway and clamped him mouth shut again. "I didn't think of that," he muttered quietly. 

          Reno pretended not to notice. "Still might be worthwhile to check it out though. I for one don't want to be drained before we even get up there."

          They all filed into the elevator when it arrived and pushed the button to take them up to the top floor. They'd still have one level of stairs to climb up to get to the roof, but it was better than the alternative. 

          Standing in the elevator, patiently waiting for it to reach the top, Reno was suddenly struck by the hilarity of the moment. A group of three murderous looking people, waiting patiently inside and elevator, guns and other assorted weapons at the ready, looking bland enough to be standing in the middle of a floral show, accompanied by the melodious pipe music being pumped out of the speakers inside the cab. Reno laughed despite the situation. Hysterically enough to bring Rankin out of his sour mood for not thinking of the elevator risk and give him a worried look.

          "You're not cracking up are you Reno?"

          "He's always been cracked," Dart shared.

          "Probably," Reno answered through his laughter. "But I'd doubt the sanity of any man who doesn't find this amusing when I tell them about it in the bar afterwards."

          Rankin took a look around him and smiled a little at that, but Dart just kept staring at them as though both were in need of some serious therapy. The idea of Dart of all people looking like that was enough to set Reno off again.

          This time though, Rankin put a stop to it with a none to friendly pat on the cheek. "Reno, be serious. I know things have been tense for you lately but you need to focus."

          Reno arranged his face into the picture of sanity, well as best as he could under the circumstances and gave Rankin one of his winning grins. "I am focused, you know me."

          "That's the fuckin' problem though ain't it," Rankin muttered under his breath.

*

          When Tarran heard the sound of the rooftop door opening, it never once occurred to him that he might be saved. Quite the opposite in fact. All he could think of was that more of Arkette's goons had arrived on the scene to help out their leader. He sank down further onto the ground and looked toward Tseng despairingly. 

          "You know, if you're going to wake up I'd rather you did it sooner rather than later."

          Tseng didn't move.

          "You know," Tarran continued unnervingly, "if you'd listened to me in the first place and told me how I might get a message to Reno, we might have saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble."

          Tseng didn't answer.

          "I think my arm's broken you know. I wanted you to know this cause I'm blaming you for it you understand."

          Nothing.

          "And shot," Tarran added twisting himself around to look at the streak of red making it's slow way up through the thin white T-shirt on his side. "Sure it only really scratched me, but it still stings like a bitch.  That's on you too. Never would have happened if it weren't for you," he finished calmly.

          Tarran almost jumped at the groan that responded to /that/ one.

          "Does Rankin teach you to be this annoying, or is it a slum thing?" Tseng asked wincing and raising a shaky arm up to rub his undoubtedly bruised ribs.

          "It's a Reno thing actually," Tarran answered with a swelling grin. "I guess I've spent too much time around him. How do you feel?"

          Tseng suppressed another groan as he rolled onto his back. "I feel as though I've been drugged repeatedly, dumped on the ground a few times and then had someone repeatedly kick me with a pair of steel capped boots."

          "Wow," Tarran replied impressed. "You're good."

          A gunshot sounded making Tarran duck instinctively. 

          "That wasn't at us," Tseng informed him after a moment. Then, "Wait, should someone be firing on us?"

          "You might say that," Tarran replied getting onto his knees and risking a peek over the top of their barricade. "But it's a long story."

          "Give me the short version."

          "We are on a rooftop of a building near where the opening was for the M1. Arkette was trying to blow up the Vice-President with one of his mako bombs but something must have gone wrong. The bomb went off all right, but I was a little busy at the time to see what happened exactly. Rufus is still alive as far as I know. Arkette is over here now and he is trying to kill us. He has at least one gun that I know of and we have no weapons bar shitty luck and good looks, and even with you that's kinda debatable. Currently we're hiding behind some sort of metal housing on the roof waiting for Arkette to come shoot us. I was hoping to lure him closer and try to surprise him, but the bastard just went and found cover of his own and started shooting. He probably thought I might've had a gun back here. I heard the door to the stairs open a moment ago but I figured they were just more of Arkette's guys. I'm not sure what to think now."

          "That was the short version?" Tseng asked wryly.

          "Pretty much. I tend to talk too much when I'm nervous."

          "Fine. Stop it, I've got a headache."

          Maybe thirty seconds after the initial gunshot, a loud sizzling sound cut off their conversation. Whatever it was must've passed close because all the hairs on Tarran's arms stood up and his scalp began to tingle. It lasted probably only two seconds before it went away and something impacted with the side of the building like a lightening strike hitting open water.

          "What the fuck was that?"

          "That," Tseng smiled, "Was Reno. And if he was aiming so close to us, my guess is that Arkette is around trying to creep up on us. We better move."

*

          When Reno swung the door open that would take him out onto the roof, he had the distinct misfortune of being shot at. Years of experience-bred instinct stopped the bullet from hitting him, but when he straightened up again, he did notice the bullet hole piercing the door right where his head would have been.

          First he ducked back inside to make sure it hadn't hit any of his own people. Seeing that they were all pretty much okay, he said, "I hate fucking rooftop fights. If you don't get cornered somewhere and shot, you're just as likely to end up going over the side. Look, wait here in this cover. He mightn't know you guys are here so stay out of sight for the moment; I'm going to go distract the bastard. Are your radios still working?"

          When they nodded, Reno continued, "Good. Let's see if we can't corner him out there. I got a chance to look, there's a few places to hide but I'm hoping that there's more of us here than his goons."

          That said, Reno opened the door once more, and dashed outside. His sprinting across the rooftop had obviously caught the other Turk off guard considering how long it took Arkette to open fire on him. He made a dive over the top of the first bit of cover he saw, a concrete divide, rolled and stayed down on his back as he heard the bullets whiz over him.

          In spite of Rankin's earlier comments to him about being serious and staying focused, Reno couldn't help grinning just that little bit. He had to admit, he was kind of enjoying himself now that the hunt had come to an end. Either way it ended, it ended today.

          Reno sat up, fired a bolt of energy in the general direction of the gunfire while he put his back to the wall in a safer position.

          "I think he's over slightly left of my position, say about a hundred feet back from the edge over on the left side somewhere," Reno spoke into the radio, "He probably has more men up here with him, but so far they're staying quiet. He'll probably make a try to get closer to me in a moment to take me out, if that's the case I can draw him off away from the door so you guys can sneak out. The other alternative is that he might just be alone up here after all and therefore will make a break for the door." Reno bit his lip and let out a huff on air, "Rankin, what do you think?"

          "Both are possible. But you're forgetting Tseng."

          "You still think he's up here?"

          "I'd bet both my ears and my right testicle on it."

          "Dead or alive?"

          He heard Rankin sigh. "Now that I offer no certainties for. But if Arkette wanted him disgraced, this'd be the perfect setup for it."

          "You're right," Reno conceded. "Well let's assume he's still alive and up here somewhere. Arkette's fighting like a cornered animal, not someone with an important hostage under his heel. I guess we should also assume that Tseng's managed to get away from him and giving him shit. Let's split the diff. When I make a go for the western side, Rankin you come out and find some cover. Dart, you stay put in case he tries to make a dash for the door."

          "Why do I havta stay behind?" Asked a sour Dart.

          "'Cause you don't have a gun and move about as fast out in the open as my arthritic grandmother you dense fuck. Just do what I tell you."

          "You heard him Dart, Reno's in charge here."

          That made Reno pause for a moment. He hadn't realized he's been giving the others orders before this. He'd just given them and expected to be obeyed. And that comment coming off someone like Rankin made him feel it even more. Guys like Rankin had 'boss' stamped over their foreheads in their employees blood. Not for the first time since becoming a Turk, Reno felt a little queasy at the responsibility, but at the same time a flush of pride that he hadn't been expecting. 

          "Right, so quit your bitching. Ready?"

          Reno switched his nightstick over his right hand and pulled his gun for all the good it would do him.

          "Ready."

          Reno was off sprinting again, this time veering off slightly toward the left side of the building. After a moment he heard the gunshots. Pointed in the right direction now, he could see the source of the gunfire but was forced to find cover again. Running around like this was only going to throw the experienced Turk for so long. Sooner or later Arkette was going to hit what he was aiming for. Clamping his gun more tightly in his hand, he got up again and started off once more this time heading directly for Arkette's hiding place. As soon as the Turk lifted his head above the barricade though, Reno opened fire, paving a way for himself with bullets making Arkette unable to risk firing back. Or as Reno learned later, at least lifting his head to see what he was firing at. Arkette fired back, but he wasn't watching or aiming. Still a few came close enough to scratch and rip up his clothes. Reno was by this point beyond noticing anything so trivial. 

Reno hurdled the concrete divide Arkette had been using as cover, skidded to a stop some paces away and spun around to face his foe. The experienced Turk was not easily rattled though and kicked the gun out of Reno's hands. He was already up on his feet, a long red furrow running deep along his left cheek where one of Reno's bullets must have grazed him. Reno swung the nightstick like a baton instead, not trusting discharging the thing so close to his target lest he hit himself as well. The black metal impacted with the arm Arkette had thrown up to block the blow. And while it must have hurt, Arkette just simply grabbed Reno's arm and twisted it painfully around making him drop the weapon. Still with a hold on Reno's arm, Arkette grabbed Reno's collar, twisting it and almost choking him, using it as leverage to pull Reno closer to him.

          Arkette's face was scary. Reno had never seen the older Turk lose his so carefully arranged mask of composure like this before. The obvious rage had twisted his features into something so ugly that Reno felt the immediate urge to take a step back. Arkette held his collar securely though and jerked the unwilling Reno back into place. 

          "There aren't even words to describe what I want to do to you, you miserable little piece of slum refuge."

          "Why Arkette," Reno gasped out before he could stop himself, "I didn't know you felt that way. But I gotta tell you, I would prefer to be taken out to dinner first or something."

          "Joke all you want. But if I were you I'd think up some better words to be your last."

          "Fine." It was getting harder to talk all the time. But he forced one his inane grins all the same. "How about; Duck."

          The temporary confusion only lasted on Arkette's face for around two seconds when the Turk must've sensed something behind him. Too late he tried to twist around, but the burden of hanging onto Reno made him slower than usual. He managed to get his head around just in time to see Tseng's fist just before it impacted with his face.

          He released Reno as he reeled back, but he was far from going down. Reno spent the next few moments trying to catch his breath and grinning at Tseng. "About time."

          Tseng was watching Arkette though. "Shut up, Reno."

          Reno couldn't be sure, but he thought Tseng's mouth might have threatened a smile though.

          Arkette however was backing up, fast. While he might have welcomed the duel with Reno or Tseng, the idea of facing them both was probably a bit much. Still, he didn't exactly look scared. Reno vaguely wondered why as he straightened up to assist Tseng in stalking their ex-comrade across the rooftop. 

          When he did find out why, he would've preferred a little more warning to say the least.

          Arkette's hand whipped around his back, under his jacket. Even before Arkette drew the gun out, Reno realized what it was going to be. He might have been tempted to kick himself had Tseng not barreled into him, propelling him away from Arkette and back toward something they could use to hide behind.

          "I forgot about that," Tseng admitted a little out of breath as the two leaned their backs up against the metal air vent opening. They had made it there without getting shot at, but Reno had left both his weapons behind in the made dash to safety. "Backup weapon. I was too caught up in the thought that we'd managed to catch him."

          "You and me both. But you're right of course, you're the Turk Leader, you really ought to have known."

          Tseng gave him a dark look. "Do you want me to beat you silly."

          Reno grinned, "Sounds kinda kinky, but I'll have to pass. Got a bad guy to catch and everything."

          Tseng rolled his eyes.

          "Need some help ladies, or do you just wanta sit and chat all day."

          "You mean I have a choice Rankin?"

          "Always, Reno. Just right now there aren't that many to choose from." 

          "Good point."

          "Who are you talking to?" Tseng asked with a confused expression.

          "Rankin. Dart's up here too." Tseng's look turned surprised. "Oh c'mon, I'm not stupid enough to come alone am I?"

          "Well, yes, actually."

          Reno raised one eyebrow at his boss, "Blow me then, you ungrateful bastard. Next time you can go rescue yourself."

          Reno made to get up but Tseng caught his arm and dragged him back down. "Where are you going?"

          "To get the nightstick back. I love that weapon."

          "Reno, don't be an idiot. Arkette has a gun."

          "All the more reason to get myself a weapon don't you think? It'll be the last thing he expects."

          Tseng caught Reno again. "Look Reno, Tarran's up here."

          For some reason, Reno wasn't terribly shocked. "Is he? Good."

          "You can't kill him. He wasn't helping Arkette."

          At this Reno did look a little confused. "Of course he wasn't. Never believed that shit for a second."

          Tseng wasn't sure how to reply to that. Instead he just watched Reno get to his feet and make a commando run back toward where he had lost his nightstick, shaking his head in wonder.

          "Rankin, can you see me?"

          "Barely. I'm a bit to the east of you."

          "I had a run in with Arkette."

          "That I /did/ see."

          "Well did you see where he went? I just retraced my steps and I can't find him anywhere."

          Reno stopped and waited where he was just a little ways off from where he'd left Tseng.

          "Ducked as soon as I saw him pull that gun. I figure he's going for the stairs though."

          "You're probably right." Reno was a fair distance away from the stairs, not too far from the concrete barricade at the edge of the rooftop. "Dart I-"

          Reno had no chance to finish. He heard a gunshot perhaps half a second before he felt the impact of the bullet entering his right side. He was so surprised that he had no time to brace for the impact, which sent him slightly backwards toward the edge. When the concrete edge hit the back of his knees, there was nothing he could do to restore his balance. With one last thought of 'well, fuck me, that was stupid' Reno totally lost his balance and toppled over the edge.

          Rankin could see this from where he was. He had seen the lucky shot hit Reno in the side pushing him back against the edge. It was such a lucky shot in fact that not even Arkette could've hoped it would do so much damage by giving Reno that little nudge backwards and the sudden horrendous pain that went with being shot to put him off enough to not be able to stop his impromptu tumble. At first Rankin could do nothing but stare. After a few seconds though, shock left him and panic allowed him to finally get to his feet and run over toward the edge. Apparently Arkette wanted to see his handy work as well. Before either of them could get to the side, they both spotted each other coming out from behind different obstacles. When their eyes locked, they both stopped walking and raised their guns. Arkette looked abnormally happy to see him.

          "Hello Marchel, you look…older. Did you see that shot? Hah, Wish I could say I'd planned it out that way but I can hardly argue with the outcome. So that's one down, say, three to go? Or is there more of you crawling around here?"

          "You sick fuck!" Rankin fumed. "Were you born with no conscience and we just didn't notice till now?!"

          Arkette looked at him a little wildly. "Being a Turk did that to me. Being a Turk and nothing more for too many years. You know that as well as I do. But wait, I don't think you really care about my troubles."

          "Damn straight you murdering son of a bitch!"

          "Uh huh! So you're sore at me about the demise of your ex-protégé. Now really, Rankin I did the world a favor by getting rid of that piss poor excuse for a Turk."

          Rankin eyed Arkette's cocky little smirk then, shot him.

          Unfortunately it wasn't a killing shot. Arkette knew Rankin and knew what pushed him to do what. He was half expecting the shot and had got one of his own off half a second before Rankin. He'd hit Rankin in the stomach throwing off Rankin's shot just enough to make it non-fatal and missing his heart. It went into his left shoulder, but the would wasn't half as bad as the one delivered to Rankin. Arkette straightened up and tried to ignore most of the pain. 

          "You really are so very predictable." He walked over toward Rankin who was lying on the ground, painfully grasping his stomach. "Now, for once do something you're supposed to and die."

          "No!"

          At the shout, Arkette felt something heavy bounce off the side of his head making him stagger away from Rankin a few paces. When he raised his head to see what had hit him, he saw his spent gun lying by his feet and a livid looking Tarran racing toward the pair. Arkette smiled and shifted his sights toward the newcomer. This was better than Christmas.

          When Reno had left him, Tseng had had thoughts about going after him but ultimately decided against the unwise course of action. If Reno could get his weapons back, good for him, but there were other ways to corner an animal without having to rely on a gun.

          He edged away from his hiding place and went off in search of Tarran who he'd left earlier somewhere off to the left side of the building. The boy had been injured and probably shouldn't try to join in the fight but if Tseng could find him and join up with Rankin, their odds would improve all the more. He got back to the now vacant spot where he'd left Tarran when he heard the first gunshot. 

          It could have been Reno firing, but Tseng didn't want to stake his life on it. As he was thinking up a new course of action and swearing at the absent Tarran for moving he heard two more gunshots in quick succession and knew that he better come up with a new plan. He was carefully making his way over to where the noise had come from when he heard Arkette's clear voice call loudly over the rooftop. He was pretty close, but still not close enough to see.

          "Tseng, you better come over here. I've got some people here that you might like to see."

          Tseng didn't reply except to swear softly once again at his predicament. 

          "Our ex-comrade Marchel is bleeding quite badly. If you don't come out I might be forced to make it worse for him."

          Tseng rubbed his eyes wearily. This was not how a rescue operation was supposed to go. Not when they were supposed to have the enemy outnumbered four to one from the very beginning. 

          "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

          Tseng tried to creep a little closer to where he suspected Arkette of being, surprised that it wasn't all that far from where he and Reno had met up with him before on the North side of the building, but closer now to the edge of the building. 

          "Tseng, it's Tarran. He's right, Rankin's been shot. But stay where you are, we-"

          Tarran's voice was cut off abruptly, Tseng could imagine what had happened.

          "Where's Reno?"

          "Your dear slum rat has just made close acquaintances with the pavement I believe. But I have two other rats here that will do as hostages. I know you Tseng, you won't let them die."

          After the sudden news of Reno, Tseng was tempted to tell him to go fuck himself. But he remained silent for a few moments on the pretence of thinking things through. It was /definitely/ not supposed to happen this way.

          "Reno's dead?"

          Arkette let out a short bark of laughter, unusual for him. "It seems to be going around. Just can't seem to keep the younger generation alive now can we? Are you going to come out? Or are you going to let me shoot your two friends here?"

          "I'll come."

          It was difficult, but years of practice allowed Tseng to push all feeling away from him for the moment. No doubt he would kill Rankin and Tarran regardless of whether Tseng came out to face him or not. But he would regret it forever if he didn't at least try to save them. Too many people he'd come to trust were dead now because of this. Just like Reno.

          He stood up and openly walked the rest of the way toward Arkette and where his voice had come from. Arkette was leaned casually back against the waist height concrete edging, his gun trained on two others some space away on the ground. Rankin was lying stretched out, blood pooled around his midsection while Tarran knelt next to him trying to staunch the flow.

          "I've seen wounds like this," Tarran whispered to Tseng as the Turk stopped by him. "He'll live if we can get him to a hospital. But he'll have to get there soon."

"Would've gotten there sooner if it weren't for you, you stupid fuck," Rankin rasped out, "You're supposed to shoot people with guns Tarran, not throw them at 'em."

          "If I'd had any bullets, I might have tried. As it was, that was the best I could do. You really want to complain?"

          "All of you," Arkette interrupted. "Shut up already." He didn't look all that put out though and considering his situation, Tseng couldn't really blame him. As it looked now, Arkette was getting the best possible result out of this already ruined day. Sure Rufus was still alive, but Reno was dead and Rankin, Tseng and Tarran were soon to follow. And Arkette could shoot them all without the slightest worry in the world. Rankin was an ex-Turk sure, but an ex-Turk cum Rebel Group Leader. Something, which Shinra didn't tend to look too lightly on. Tarran was a non-event other than the fact that he was a rebel himself and Reno's friend. Tseng, the real prize, wasn't in too good a position himself. Arkette had witnesses of him getting over here, Tseng did not. The fact that Tseng was here at all after being missing for so many days would be circumspect enough to make whatever garbage story Arkette invented to be just that little bit more credible. Perhaps not where Rufus was concerned, but that didn't mean a hell of a lot. Rufus didn't hold as much power in the company as the public might believe and was really only in a position there at all because of his father. 

          At that moment, Tseng felt the most defeated than he ever had since investigating his own teacher's disappearance over twenty years ago.  He hated that feeling and he hated Arkette for putting him in this situation.

          "If you want us to shut up, shoot us. I woke take orders from a piece of volatile human refuse like you now or ever."

          "Brave words my dear Leader. And articulate too! And since you /are/ my Leader, I will be happy to fulfill your last order of me," Arkette pointed his gun at Tseng first, "and shoot you. Die knowing that Rufus won't be far behind, I will get to him eventually. And then, who knows? I like that title of Vice-President, has a nice ring to it doesn't it? Though not quite as attractive as President." Arkette smiled at him coldly. "I really hope this hurts."

          Tseng braced himself to be shot, but the shot never came. Reclined against the ledge, Arkette suddenly went rigid, then began to shake, convulsing so violently that he dropped his weapon where it clattered onto the ground by his feet. Blood began to dribble down his chin where he must've bitten through his lip with the pain he had to  have been feeling. After a good long few seconds he stopped shuddering. Then he seemed to jerk backwards sharply, right over the ledge behind him. 

          For a few shocked moments, Tseng couldn't move. When he finally did take back control of himself, he raced over to the edge and looked down. A pale face framed with fire-red hair, lit up by two luminous teal colored eyes looked back up at him. 

          "Quit gawking and help me up would you, I can't feel my left arm."

          Reno was hanging onto the side of the building by the fingertips of said arm only and looked about ready to give way at any moment. Without thinking, Tseng grabbed his arm to steady him and looked past Reno's dangling body, down toward the pavement below. From here, Arkette's body looked like a small red smear on the otherwise white pavement below.

          Tarran joined him over at the side and swore soundly when he saw Reno before helping Tseng in dragging the young Turk back up over the side and letting him collapse onto the safer ground of the rooftop. The right side of his shirt was all bloody but not profusely so. The main damage seemed to be to his right hand that was burned nastily.

          "Nightstick," Reno explained shortly when he noticed Tseng staring. "Knew I shouldn't use the thing up close. Dragging him off did me in though, that's for fucking sure. So," He began boosting himself up onto his elbows and looking up at Tseng and Tarran, that inane half-smile of his spreading across his face, "what did I miss?"

*

          The trio left on the roof watched as the helicopter took off and headed off in the direction of the Midgar Hospital, a swearing Rankin on board and a grumpy looking Dart for company. After it was out of sight they began the trek back toward the stairway. They almost made it back in silence, but Tarran couldn't remain silent for too long.****

"What was that roar I heard earlier? Sounded like a friggin' demo ball had crashed into the building."

          "Oh," Reno replied looking up, "that was me. Drove a car into the fourteenth floor."

          Tseng and Tarran both stopped dead. It took a few moments for Reno to realize what had happened and stop to face them again. "What?"

          "You drove a car into the building? How…?"

          Reno gestured over toward the roadway, which could still be seen in the deepening dusk light. 

          "You're shitting me."

          Reno raised both eyebrows and shook his head. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. Not many options really."

          Both of his friends looked baffled for a moment. Finally Tarran said, "That's a very good way to kill yourself."

          Reno rolled his eyes. "I've been hearing that a lot lately. Chill alright, we made it didn't we? And just in time to save both your asses if memory serves."

          Tseng shook his head, but he looked to be almost smiling. "Reno, you're insane. That and being a Turk is a dangerous mix."

          "So I've also been told. Guess you still want me around huh?"

          "If you can manage to keep the psychosis down to a minimum."

          The trio began walking again.

          "Can't promise you that, Boss. However insane you think I am, just remember, you're the one that hired me."

          "Touché." 

          Reno grinned and threw a companionable arm around each one of his friend's shoulders. It was a stretch for the younger and shorter Reno to accomplish, but he managed it and still kept walking. "Sure you don't want to rethink my status in the Turks?" Reno asked in a teasing tone.

          "Leviathan, Reno." Tseng started exasperatedly. "How many times. Yes, I want you to stay. Yes, I need you. Happy?"

          "You sure?" Reno prodded.

          "Yes!"

          "Good. Cause we may havta catch a lift back with Rufus."

          "Why?" Tarran asked before Tseng could.

          "Because I've been using Tseng's car while he's been gone rather than trusting my unreliable piece of shit." Reno shrugged. "And that car I drove into the building, it was Tseng's."

          Tseng had some of the most well known and finely tuned reflexes in Midgar, but not even he was able to catch Reno before the younger man danced away from his friends and started sprinting off toward the doorway to the stairs. Tseng didn't bother chasing, but his face has gone a distinct shade of purple.

          "I'm going to kill him," he told Tarran seriously.

          Tarran had been biting his lip to stop from laughing. "Yeah, but you gotta love him anyway."

          Tseng merely growled.

************

          Three Days Later.

          An insistent rapping at his office door made Rankin spill his coffee over the papers on his desk and drop his cigarette into the mess at the same time. 

          "What?!" He roared at the door.

          A meek looking head of dark brown hair peeked into the office and looked fearfully at his enraged boss.

          "Sorry Sir, but there's a delivery guy downstairs that says he needs you to sign for something."

          "Bullshit! I didn't order anything."

          The boy ducked his head apologetically. "I know that Sir 'cause it wasn't on the list. But he's adamant. Says it came from Shinra, Sir, and he can't be taking it back."

          "Shinra?" Rankin asked surprised. "What is it?"

          "We checked like, so I could tell you." The boy paused here, not sure whether to continue or not out of sheer fright and embarrassment. "They were towels, Sir. Big white towels. Six boxes of 'em. Enough for everybody apparently."

          Rankin stared at the boy as though he'd sprouted a new head. "Towels, from Shinra? Don't suppose it mentioned which department?"

          "Administrative Research or something, Sir."

          Rankin stared at the boy a moment longer before he started to chuckle. Then to roar with laughter while the boy fidgeted nervously at the door.

          "Does this mean that we take 'em?"

          Rankin nodded and hauled himself to his feet, hardly wincing at his still painful, materia healed wound. "I'll come down to sign for it now." Rankin shook his head ruefully. "You bloody little angel."

          "Sir?" The boy asked anxiously. "Were you talking to me?"

          "Not you son," Rankin explained coming around the desk and headed out the door with the boy, "Someone that used to work here. Remind me to tell you and a few of the younger lads about him sometime eh?"

          "Yes, Sir."****

***

          "You sure you don't want to come with me?" Tarran asked for maybe the sixth time since this morning.

          Reno looked at his friend, duffle slung over his back, anxious look on his face staring right back at him and shook his head.

          "Nah, Tseng'll hunt me down and kill me if I don't see to getting his car fixed."

          Tarran laughed a little at that. "I can't believe he still wants it after you drove it into a building."

          "Yeah well, he's a stubborn asshole all right. We got the choppers to lift it out okay, but it looks like it's been driven into a brick wall repeatedly then set on fire. I dunno what he expects me to do about it, but he wants it back good as new before the end of the month or he promised me I'd end up looking much the same. I believe him too."

          "You should. He's a dangerous guy."

          After that, the conversation went a little flat with neither of them seemingly willing to move or speak to break the moment. In the distance they could hear several different types of aircraft getting ready to leave or landing as the case may be. Tarran held a ticket to one such aircraft clenched tightly in one fist as though afraid it might disappear if he relaxed his grip for too long.

          "You should probably get going," Reno said eventually. "The plane'll leaving soon. Don't want to miss it."

          "Uh, yeah."

          Reno raised a single eyebrow at his friend's reluctance. "Not having seconds thoughts are you? C'mon, it's every slum rat's dream to get outta this city. And besides, you'll love Junon. There's a whole slew of new woman there that don't even know you enough to be pissed off with you yet."

          Tarran tried to smile at the joke but failed miserably. "I know, and I really do want to go. That security job Tseng set up for me sounds great and everything and I /am/ getting out of Midgar. But, I had hoped you might come with. Catch a new break with me like, you know."

          "I know. But I can't, you know that."

          "Yeah." Tarran affirmed sourly.

          "Look, I'm a Turk hey. Shinra has offices in Junon and I'll have the money to visit and so will you. It's not like I'm dying or anything man."

          Tarran didn't appear relieved. "It mightn't stay that way." 

          Reno gave him a cocky smile and shrugged, "I'm not that easy to kill remember? Cockroaches and me Tarran, you told me so yourself."

          Tarran /did/ smile at that before stepping in to give Reno and impromptu but heartfelt hug. "Thanks for this. I still wish you were coming. I'll, um…miss you, you know?"

          Reno grinned and playfully shoved Tarran away from him, "Listen to you, you sound like a mushy old woman." He wiped the playful look away and tried to appear more serious when it looked as though Tarran wasn't in a joking mood. "But I guess I'll miss you too. Now, your planes waiting." Reno couldn't help the smile from resurfacing here though. "Unless of course you want to change your mind about Tseng's second offer and join the Turks."

          Tarran gave Reno a happy smile. "I'd rather have Dart lick my testicles for two hours while having one of his lackeys run a cheese grater up my bare back."

          "I'll take that as a 'no' then?"

"Right. Later, Reno." Resetting his bag over his back, Tarran checked he still had his ticket and started off over the tarmac toward the small hover plane bound for Junon. He didn't look back once and Reno was proud of him for it.

"Later."

          Reno didn't leave straightaway. Instead he sat on the gate near the departures terminal and watched the plane as it took off and headed away from the city. He continued sitting there until he couldn't see it anymore. Half of the reason was to see Tarran off safely, the other half because he just wanted to sit by himself for a little while. The last few days had been hectic beyond belief for him and he'd hardly had a chance to breathe properly.

          Both Heidigar and Rufus had told the President about the day of the opening. Heidigar from the vantage point of what he'd seen that day, Rufus from the point of someone who had been caught up in the whole fiasco for the weeks it had taken to fully play out. Of course he had to be subtle as hell about it, but he did manage to make the point that Arkette had been acting suspiciously for a while beforehand. Small bits of evidence leant credence to this, but basically the President had chosen to believe that Arkette was behind the stunt backed up by the belief of two Turks, the Vice-President and a couple of other nameless executives who, rumor stated, had information regarding Arkette's nefarious ways reported to them from reliable sources outside the company. Thankfully no one had deemed it worthy to mention that all of those sources originated from the same Rebel House in the slums. And since Arkette was no longer around to refute these claims, the President had believed it. He had been surprisingly disappointed considering Arkette had only been a Turk, but he'd accepted it none the less, even going so far as to personally commending Reno on saving his son for the second time in as many weeks. Reno was the new up and coming Turk in the Shinra ranks and had gained quite a reputation that already had his co-workers scared shitless of him when they weren't kissing his ass and telling him how splendidly he'd handled the whole thing. As if he'd done it all single handedly. 

          Rufus didn't miss out on the fame either. The effect of nearly losing his only heir twice in such a short time had seemingly reinforced the bond the father felt for his son apparently, even if it did seem more from fear of loosing a business heir than losing his only child. Either way it had shown the old man that if he intended to give the company to his son he'd better start letting him have a little more experience in running the thing. 

Rufus had been charged with overseeing all of the departments underneath him and basically full-filling the role he was meant to as Vice-President of the company. Only now it seemed he was actually allowed to play his part instead of pretending to. This was very good news considering what had just happened. In future, if such a circumstance were to arise again, Rufus would actually be in a position to take immediate action, whether the person or persons in question were favored of the President's or not. Also, the Junon section of the company was now fully under his own control after years of a kind of co-partnership with the head Junon official. Rufus, of course, was lapping it up. In fact, he was holding a party tonight in his own honor just for the occasion.

Tseng was still Tseng, the perfect Shinra Turk. Aside from small praise and a pay increase, he was happy to let the incident go unmentioned leaving most people believing Reno to be the true hero behind it all. Which, as he mentioned later, was true enough anyway. For Tseng it was just a job, or so he said. But Reno knew he still missed Dallen and fully realized how deeply the whole thing had effected the older man. Just for that Reno let Tseng bitch at him as often as his boss wanted to and ignored the abuse about his totaled car. After all, Reno figured he'd get over it all eventually.

This was, however, the third time in the history of Shinra that the Turks would not be holding their traditional wake for their fallen. Both Desmond Gafford and Anthony Arkette died as traitors to their comrades and would only be remembered as traitors within future ranks.

If they were remembered at all.

          Reno was so engrossed thinking about his new life, apartment and job that he almost fell off his perch on the fence when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

          "Sorry," Elena apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you."

          "That's okay." Reno replied surprised at her appearance. "I was only thinking about shit anyway. Nothing really important. What're you doing here?"

          Elena tucked a piece of her short blond hair behind her ear and squinted up at him through the streaming sunlight. "Leaving. My father and I are heading back to Junon today."

          "They must run like five flights a day out there or something. I was just seeing a friend off myself."

          Elena shook her head, "They don't. My father has his own plane. You look sad."

          "Kind of. I'll miss my friend. And you of course." Reno grinned. "Don't suppose I get a goodbye kiss do I?"

          "I doubt it." Elena smiled. "My father might see. But I may send you a postcard every now and then. That is if you would deign to tell me your full /real/ name for once."

          Reno shrugged. "The truth is that I've already told you; Reno."

          "Your last name too. Only rock stars don't have last names."

          "Maybe I'll become a rock star."

          "I could imagine that actually."

          "I don't /have/ a last name. Not really."

          "Pity." Elena sighed reaching up to fix Reno's tie for him. "I rather thought that 'Anderson' suited you."

          Reno vaguely remembered telling her that one. "Really? You think so?"

          "Sure. Reno Anderson," She said rolling the words out as though testing how it sounded. "It sounds professional but casual at the same time. Sort of like you I suppose. If you wanted to make it more like you, you could choose something else. But I doubt an annoying sounding name is the kind of thing an up and coming Shinra Turk is after."

          "Cute." Reno told her sarcastically. "Wait, how do you-"

          "/Everybody's/ heard about you by now. Saving the President's son and everything. I was very impressed."

          Reno smiled at her slowly and leaned closer, in danger of falling off the fence. "How impressed exactly?"

          "Elena, we're going to be late!"

          Elena backed away from Reno as her name was called. Her father was waiting for her over by a slim white plane on the runway.

          "I have to go," she stated unnecessarily.

          "So you do. Maybe I'll see you when I come to Junon to visit my friend."

          "Maybe." Elena agreed, but she didn't look too hopeful.

          She turned and began walking over toward her father. Halfway there she stopped though, turned and ran back to Reno. Up on her toes, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off again and rejoining her father.

          Reno just sat there and grinned while he watched her board her plane and still as it took off heading in the same direction Tarran's had. When it was totally out of sight, he hopped off the fence and started back towards the car park. On his way there he pulled his PHS out of his pocket and dialed the number for Rufus' office.

          "Hey. Listen, yeah I know, shuddup a second will you? I got that name for you. My last name you stupid fuck, the one you keep buggin' me for. Oh, right yeah sure, a beer sounds good. Cool, I'll meet you there. Is Tseng coming? Why not? Gods that man has a rod up his ass the size of the Shinra Tower I swear. Oh, fine, I'm on my way, keep your pants on. 

"What? No I didn't want to leave with Tarran. Yeah I was tempted, but c'mon, feared and respected and all that not to mention the shit load you guys are paying me.  Fuck, I'd have to be /insane/ to want to leave now…"

The End.

_…well, kinda…_

Notes: Holy shit, was that a marathon or what? This chapter alone was in excess of, wait for it, 19,000 words. Close enough to 20,000 actually. That's about average for THREE **BIG chapters ordinarily so this time you can swallow your bitching about having to wait all this time for the last chapter. As it was I got someone to co-write this one with me because of all the shear amount of work I had to cram into it. Sure I could have cut it up and make three chapters out of it, but it all happens in the same day more or less and I wanted to keep things happening for you all so you could read it a bit better. Neway, the story is completed now, done, finished and yay for that huh? I hope the ending was all you expected and so much more. Even though I wasn't particularly happy myself. I should probably plan things out a bit better in future huh? Oh well, I hope you liked it anyhow.**

Thank you all sooooo much for reading this fic. I know this is a quite popular one and I hope the end chapter did it justice and all that garbage. Many many many thanks to Ace for co-writing she's responsible for about half the chapter herself so pay respect where respect is due.

_Right so, what's next huh? Well for those of you that don't know, the next fic in the Shinra Chronicles series is the one that will follow almost directly off from this one and will center around Rude and his first couple of weeks as a Turk. Looks to be interesting and I did take a vote on it. Sorry Dallen fans, you'll get your chance to vote for him next time. So look out for the next one: 'Nothing To Say' _

_Read more in the series, that's an order._

_I'll be taking some time off this series though to finish some more of Monsters and completing the second Episode of the ADKOS Hero series, but don't worry, I'll get back to this as soon as I can 'cause I loved writing this one soooo much. _

_Don't forget to review, this being the last chapter ever for Insane. C'mon peoples, show me your love…_

_Be one with the fic,_

_AF_

_anime_fearie@excite.com___

_All Stories can be found on the 70th Floor at Neo Midgar_

____

_Join the mailing list for updates and semi-useless conversation plus polls and general poking fun._

_E-Mail Ace at;_

_acelynd@excite.com**__**_


	22. Nothing To Say: Updated Preview

**Nothing To Say is now an active story and can be viewed via my profile page.**

**If you liked the preview please come read the first chapter in its fullest and please enjoy :)**

**Nothing To Say.**

**Preview**

The Last Few Months In The Life Of…

**…Reno…**

**Part I – Work**

"Oh, give me a break, that guy came nowhere near me!"

Tseng was blowing it all totally out of proportion as always. So what if he, Reno, cut a few corners in an effort to get a result. So what if he hadn't waited for backup before going after that guy Freeman? All Solider would have done was slow him up, ask stupid questions and make far too much noise. Why wait for that when he could just as easily sneak in and take the guy out with the minimal of fuss?

According to Tseng he should have waited because Freeman already knew he was there. How could he hope to sneak up on someone who was ready for an ambush?

To which Reno had replied something in the way of, "of course I could still catch him out because I am the better and that Freeman couldn't have smelt a surprise attack if it had been rolling in Midgar prime sewerage minutes beforehand."

As it turned out, Reno had been lucky not to have caught a knife in the ribs. Tseng had subsequently pointed this out rather angrily.

To which Reno had further replied, "yeah but which one of us was carrying the big fuckin' gun? Not the dead guy in the city morgue that's for fucking sure."

**Part II – Friends**

"You broke into my office this morning didn't you, you little son of a bitch."

Reno grinned but didn't look up from the game he was playing. A driving game on the GamesSystem he was currently winning.

"What makes you think that?"

Rufus frowned but he didn't dare take his eyes of the television screen either. "When I came in for work this morning everything in my office was facing backwards as you damn well know. I had a meeting with my father first thing as you probably also well know. It didn't make a good impression."

Reno tried not to laugh. "I did it last night actually."

"Splashback from the cafeteria incident no doubt?"

"Very perceptive. You think I was going to let you get away by standing in the middle of the café with you loudly telling me that I wasn't your type and I should stop stalking you? That wasn't very funny."

"To me it was. You were complaining how boring it was around work. But anyway, that stunt with my office, you do realize this means war don't you?"

"Rufus, I was flat out counting on it."

Part III – Relationships

"Oh gods, Reno! Yes! Yes! YESSSSSssss!"

**…Tseng…**

**Part I – Work**

Tseng was currently trying to beat down the insistent urge to hurt his second in command. After the last few weeks it had become a rather big urge.

"You got lucky, admit it. If Freeman had had a gun, you wouldn't be standing here smiling."

But he was. Oh how he was. The cocky little bastard did have a point in some ways. Not matter how reckless he was – and he was with greater and greater regularly – he almost always got results. Tseng's bosses were gushing over their latest Turk like Reno was the star they had all been waiting for. Since his joining the ranks, he saved Vice-President Shinra three times, President Shinra once and erased in one way or another more Shinra opposes than the company was even aware of having. Reno had contacts, good instincts, well honed skills and used them all to his best advantage.

Of course, Tseng's bosses didn't have to deal with the little twerp on a day to day basis now did they? He was way too cocky and self assured, way too self reliant and had no sense of authority or feel for the chain of command. And while Tseng knew Reno's own safety was in jeopardy he also knew full well that when Reno went all vigilante he put those around him in danger also.

"But I am, Tseng. So where's the big foul?"

Tseng slammed his palm down onto the table in frustration. "Burrows, Soldier Third class who is currently lying in the infirmary care of a stray bullet tossed off by one of Freeman's lackeys!"

This quieted the Turk a little. "Oh yeah. How's he doing anyway?"

"He'll be fine." Tseng admitted. "Bullet really only grazed him. But I warned you about things like this. It could have just as easily killed him."

To Tseng further infuriation, Reno shrugged. "But it didn't. And didn't I tell you that Soldier would only get in the way. You know how I don't like to say 'I told you so'."

Tseng gave up. He was getting a headache.

**Part II – Friends**

Tseng's headache was in full swing by the time the phone on his desk rang, again.

He snatched it up and answered it with an aggravated 'what!'.

He heard laughter.

"Killed him yet?" Rufus asked innocently.

Tseng growled and slammed the phone back down.

**Part III – Relationships**

Tseng sighed as he let himself sink into his favorite armchair. Grabbing the book from the table next to him he put his feet up on his footstool and opened the book to the page where he'd last left off.

"Gentlemen, have a seat."

Both Turks looked at each other once before both seemed to decide to just wait and see what was up. They watched their boss gracefully seat himself in his big leather armchair before both taking the proffered chairs in front of them.

Rufus leaned forward over his desk, planting his elbows and steepling his fingers together. He gave them both a worryingly casual smile.

"It would seem we have a problem," he began once they were seated.

"Problem, Sir?" Tseng inquired politely.

Rufus compressed his lips together for a little while before answering. "Well I'm at a loss at what else to call it when both my Turks almost get themselves killed in a running gunfight taking place throughout the streets of topside Sector Five. The heavily populated streets bathed in the closest thing Midgar ever gets to bright daylight I might add." Rufus paused here and eyed each Turk in turn. "What would you have me call it if not a problem?"

"An accident," Tseng supplied.

"A disaster," Reno threw in.

Rufus pretended to think their answers over. "Actually I quite like Reno's description. Has a ring of truth to it."

"Sir, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I assure you that we would never-" But Rufus cut Tseng off.

"Never endanger the image of the company, not to mention hundreds of lives just for a pissing match against a band of terrorists?"

"Of course not. And if Reno had simply-"

"Woah there. You are not pinning this on me, Tseng. I didn't think-"

"Exactly my point! Reno, you don't think! You just walk around the city like you belong there and nobody will notice. You aren't a nobody anymore, people will recognize you."

"Did you just call me a nobody? Don't forget that it was this little nobody that you begged for help not all that long ago."

"What? I-"

Rufus sat there throughout the argument with a tired look on his face. Since Reno had been a Turk this is how most Turk meetings usually ran. Which is why Heidiggar had palmed them off on Rufus for the time being. Just sorting out their fights could take days and reading their reports was more like a case of 'he said', 'he said'. The problem wasn't even that Tseng and Reno were naturally argumentative people, but lately they had been rubbing each other raw like two cats tied up in a bag.

The problem had more to do with the fact that the two of them could not carry the Turks alone. For the first time in Shinra history, the Turk ranks had been running for six or so months with only two Turks in its ranks. And that circumstance was compounded by the fact that less than a year ago there had been five Turks. The workload hadn't changed and that left them both doing the job of two or more each and little time left over to relax. They spent most of their time in each other's company and for two so very different people, it almost seemed to amount to torture to force them together so often. And little could be done to alleviate this. Turk training had been all but cancelled since Tseng's old partner had been killed because of the lack of people then and now it was even worse because Reno himself was still a relatively new Turk himself. True he had performed exceedingly well under the pressure forced onto him as a result, but that didn't automatically mean that he knew all he could know about being one of Shinra's elite. And if things didn't start to look up, odds were he'd never fully learn.

In the last year Shinra had lost four of its Turks – three of them thanks to Reno himself – and it would take years to swell the ranks again. The downside was that they simply just couldn't wait that long. Too much longer and they'd lose all their Turks, whether to an enemy or at each other's hands, it was too close to tell at present.

"Look, that's enough," Rufus interrupted them both. "We're all friends here so I hope I can talk candidly."

"Of course," Tseng affirmed.

"Whatever," Reno muttered.

"Good." Rufus took a deep breath. "You both are in deep shit. Don't give me that look, you've been getting the job done, but any more complaints like this, or off either of you and I seriously think the President might start to think that giving your jobs to Soldier might be a more valuable and cost effective way of solving his problems. And don't think you guys aren't expensive. Your pay and what goes into your resources is the largest budgeted sub-branch department in the company and that includes the entire first grade of Soldier. I happen to think you are worth it, but I'll be in the minority soon if things don't start looking better."

Rufus paused and looked at a sheet of paper in front of him. "And no more petty complaints lodged against each other, okay? This stuff goes on your record. No wonder Heidigar doesn't want to deal with either of you at the moment. His pride in the Turks only lasts as long as the President has praises for you himself.

"Look, I know, you're both overworked, tired and sick of each other but I'm hoping we might be able to resolve this today."

For once, both of the Turk's shared looks wasn't annoyance. They both looked slightly panicky.

"Please don't say Solider," They both begged at once.

Rufus grinned. "Hardly. I was going to say 'Turk'."

"Umm…" Reno began.

"Rufus, we don't have recruits anymore. You know that." Tseng finished for him.

"No, you're absolutely right, we no longer have anymore Turk recruits. But you're forgetting what a far-sighted man your ex-partner could be sometimes, Tseng," Rufus told him smugly. "You have an already trained recruit that Dallen had been preparing for almost a year before. I'm surprised you didn't remember this sooner."

It took a few moments before Tseng did seem to remember. Then his face matched Rufus' own expression.

"You already have a trained Turk at your disposal, even if he does have to officially be a rookie for a little while yet, he may just be the help you need to get yourselves out of this slump."

Tseng nodded in understanding while Reno started to look very worried. Surprisingly, he kept his thoughts to himself though.

"Where is he now?"

"He went back home to his old job," Rufus informed them. "I'm going to send for him today and I expect you both to help him fit in. This means try not to fight with each other and don't get him killed. Consider it an order"

"Yes Sir." Tseng replied obediently even if he looked like he may not believe his own promise.

"Blow me," Reno responded sweetly.

TBC…


End file.
